


Nothing Personal

by thieves



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Blow Jobs, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, one blow job to be specific
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-05-03 15:54:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5297291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thieves/pseuds/thieves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke's the new kid who doesn't want any trouble, and Michael is edgy and generally hates everyone. Yes, he hates Luke, too. </p><p>Or, a High School AU in which Luke gets assigned to be Michael's tutor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi, i went back over this and let me tell you,,,,, it is not very good in my opinion, so be warned if you decide to read this
> 
> i'm tempted to delete this work, but eh, maybe itll be a good read for some of you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im aware that the first chapter is kinda shitty. i wrote it a long time ago when i didnt really have any experience in writing, but i assure you the later chapters will be better
> 
> ill update this fanfic every friday because i already have it written, i just need to edit it a lot

The alarm clock starts shrieking and pulls Luke from his sleep. He groans and blindly silences his phone. The door creaks being opened, and Luke lays as still as he can, trying his best to fall asleep again.

 “Luke, get up or I’m going to pull off the covers.”

Maybe if he ignores her, she’ll go away.

“Luke, I’m serious.”

“I’m up.”

“Your head is under the pillow.”

“I’m awake.”

“You’ll be late if you keep fooling around.”

Luke shifts in his bed and uncurls his body, a hand out from under the covers in search for his phone. His mom just crosses her arms impatiently and watches Luke’s hand grab the phone, then disappear under the covers again.

“I still have, like, an hour,” he grumbles, but sits up in his bed nonetheless.

“You have to stop by the principal’s office before that to get your schedule,” Luke’s mom insists. Luke just rubs his eyes and swings his feet over the edge of his bed.

“Okay, just let me get ready.” Luke stands up and goes over to one of the boxes that are propped beside the wall.

“Look presentable and make sure to unpack once you’re back home from school,” his mom instructs and leaves Luke alone in his new room.

Luke’s parents got a divorce last month and his mom moved here, taking her only son along. It’s fine by Luke; ever since dad turned to alcohol, everything went to shit. Luke hoped that the divorce would make his mum happier, and it seemed like it did. She found a new job and signed up for a dancing class which she couldn’t afford earlier, because dad spent too much money in bars.

On the other hand, he now has a load of boxes to unpack and worse, transfer schools mid-semester. Not as lovely as it sounds - everyone’s already used to each other, and all the good seats in classrooms are taken, Luke thinks as he pulls out a pair of jeans and a random shirt. Then he shuffles into the bathroom for a quick shower he was supposed to take yesterday but couldn’t be bothered to. Luke regrets being lazy last night as he checks if the running water is warm enough yet.

+

The drive to school is short, about 15 minutes. After all, it is a small town, and the traffic isn’t bad. In the car, Luke’s mom gives him all kinds of directions, varying from how to behave to what to get for lunch. All Luke wants to do was play around on his phone without his mom making him put it down and listen to her.

“Mom, I’m fine, honestly,” Luke interrupts after a few more moments.

“Are you, now? You probably weren’t even listening,” his mom mutters and changes the radio station, turning up the music a bit louder. Luke recognizes that as a sign his mom doesn’t want to talk anymore.

“Pick up the schedule, try my best in class, don’t spend money on junk food. I heard you,” he raises his voice slightly. He _was_ listening and he feels the need to make it clear.

His mom doesn’t respond. Luke sighs. None of them say a word for a while, the radio being the only source of noise. Luke counts red cars that pass his mom’s. After six, Luke turns away from the window and tries again. “Mom?”

“Yes?” she responds, but doesn’t take her eyes off the road.

“Are we there yet?” Luke asks an innocent question, to test the waters.

“Almost.”

Well, that’s good, Luke figures. She’s not that angry at him. It was probably just nervousness making it hard for her to be patient.

“Oh, okay.” A silence settles between them, but it’s much lighter this time. Luke’s mom turns her head for a moment and gives Luke a small smile, which he returns.

+

“Take a seat, Mr Hemmings,” Luke is offered when he introduces himself to the school’s secretary. She is sitting behind her desk and motioning her head at one of the seats opposite of her. Luke thanks her and does as he’s told, carefully putting his backpack on the floor to reduce noise he was sure letting it just drop would make.

“Your mother mentioned you moved just recently?” the lady asks. Luke would rather sit in silence than be engaged in awkward conversation.

“Yes, just last week,” he answers and looks down at his hands. The secretary seems to take the hint and doesn’t ask any more questions. Or maybe all her attention is given to the document on her computer, Luke decides from the intense clacking of her keyboard. While she types, Luke takes his time to look around the room. There is a freshly brewed coffee mug steaming on the table, seemingly forgotten. It’ll get cold if the lady doesn’t drink it. The mug is sat on a pile of papers, the pile next to a second pile. The desk is free of any other things, save for a few office supplies and the computer. The room is small, but Luke likes it. It’s personalized, with decorations on the walls and a few framed pictures on the windowsill.

Luke’s train of thought is interrupted by the printer wheezing in the corner of the room. A piece of paper slips out and the secretary hands it to him.

“This is your schedule for the semester, don’t misplace it until you memorize it, okay?” she smiles and Luke nods, folding the paper in half. He’ll look at it later.

“That will be all for now, you’ll get your locker next week, we have to arrange some things since your arrival was quite sudden.”

“Okay, thank you.” Luke grips a strap of his backpack and stands up.

“Have a nice day, Mr Hemmings,” the secretary smiles again and raises her coffee mug to her lips. From her expression, Luke assumes it got cold.

“Thank you, you, too,” Luke says, then pushes up the chair and slips out of the room. That went quite good, he thinks as he looks at the door he just closed. _106, Principal’s Secretary,_  the first line says, and under that there’s a smaller _Mariel Faucher._ Luke stares at the engraved name for a second, and then turns around in search of a place to study his new schedule.

+

With ten minutes to spare, Luke walks into the classroom of his first class which is algebra. A few people are already in there, talking to each other. Luke doesn’t know what to do, so he decides to wait for class to start near the door. No one is paying him any attention, and that’s fine with Luke, he’s nervous as it is. As he stares at the clock, more and more people arrive, and then, finally, the teacher shows up. He’s quite short, young and seems friendly, which Luke finds comfort in as he walks up to his desk and tries to remember the teacher’s name. He looked it up on the door earlier, but had somehow forgotten.

“Hi, how can I help you?” the man smiles up at Luke as he shrugs off his jacket. Luke realizes he’s been standing near his new teacher for an awfully long time and he hasn’t said a thing.

“Uh, I’m the new student, and I didn’t know where to sit,” Luke explains and looks over to the classroom, where almost all seats are already taken.

“Oh yeah, they mentioned you’d show up. Hemmings, right?”

Luke nods, and then realizes the teacher is not looking at him. “Yes.”

The man hums and pulls out a file from the top drawer, quickly flipping it open. Luke tries not to look as he goes over its contents and only looks back down when he hears he’s being spoken to again.

“This thing says a few seats are free,” the teacher waves the seating arrangement in his hand. “How’s your eyesight?”

“Twenty-twenty,” Luke shrugs.

“Then why don’t you take a seat next to Carter? Third row, by the window,” the teacher finally decides.

“Thank you,” Luke says and he walks to his seat cautiously. He notices people are starting to acknowledge him, a few are whispering while looking at him. Luke slips into his seat and starts toying with his pencil as he listens to his teacher talk about their homework. Looks like more than half the students did poorly on it.

+

Luke has three more classes after that and nothing extraordinary happens besides his English teacher making him introduce himself to his classmates. That goes pretty well except for that part when Luke totally messes up his own last name and the one where most people aren’t interested in what he has to say about himself. His handout in hand, Luke is now in search of the cafeteria. Soon enough he gives up trying to find the way by himself and decides to ask someone for directions. Unfortunately, the hallways are almost deserted, only a couple obviously busy people passing him by in a hurry.

Luke takes one more turn and then he spots a boy standing by the lockers. He’s lost in thought, Luke figures, as he observes the boy pace back and forth in the hallway.

Luke approaches the guy cautiously not even noticing his own wary. The boy’s brown boots are making very little noise as he takes a couple steps away from Luke, then abruptly turns around and paces back to his primary spot.

Luke clears his throat and takes one more step forward. “Uh, hi,” he says and tops his greeting with an awkward smile.

“Hello!” The boy is nothing like Luke expected him to be. Abruptly, he changed from worried about something to a ray of sunshine. He’s smiling and any trace of his previously furrowed brows is gone like it’s never been there in the first place.

“I’m Ashton,” he introduces himself and extends an eager hand to Luke.

Luke gingerly takes the hand and Ashton shakes it like his life depends on it.

“Luke,” Luke says, and Ashton finally releases his hand from the crushing grip. Luke tries to be subtle as he flexes his fingers, letting the blood flow freely again.

“So, what brings you to me, Luke?” Ashton asks, reminding Luke to stop paying attention to his numb fingers.

“Oh, I was, I was wondering if you knew where the cafeteria is,” he says and cracks a smile in response to the other boy’s grin.

“Of course. Actually, I was gonna go there myself, maybe you’d like to join?”

“That’d be nice, thank you,” Luke agrees. Why the hell not, the kid seems nice and Luke feels at ease with him despite knowing him for, what, a minute? Ashton leads the way and Luke falls in step after a short moment. Ashton giggles, because Luke has to jog to catch up with him, and lightly nudges his shoulder. Luke returns the gesture with more force and Ashton stumbles to the side.

“Ass,” he mutters, and Luke swears he can hear the smile in his voice.

“You were asking for it,” Luke says.

They continue their little shoving around game until they reach the cafeteria and stand in line for the food.

“Aw shit, they’re out of fries already,” Ashton huffs.

“Tomorrow we’ll have to hurry up, then,” Luke suggests and starts freaking out almost immediately – what if Ashton won’t want to spend lunch with Luke tomorrow?

Ashton just smiles and nods, so Luke allows himself to hope that maybe he will.

+

Luke is actually excited for school today, he tells his mom as they eat breakfast.

“I assume the first day was fun?” she asks.

Luke nods and gulps down a bite, then says, “yes, I met this guy named Ashton, he’s really cool. We spent lunch together.”

“That’s amazing, Luke. How are the teachers?” Luke’s mom questions and puts down a mug of coffee in front of Luke, which he thanks for and wraps his hands around to warm them.

Before he can answer, he gets distracted by the view of the window. A gust of wind tears off a couple of leaves off the tree near to the house. 

“Luke?”

Oh, right, he’s been asked a question. He takes a scalding sip before answering.

“They’re alright, I guess. Didn’t really like my English teacher,” he mutters and glances out the window again, but not a single leaf falls down. “Algebra teacher is the least worst,” he concludes and settles his eyes on his mom doing the dishes.

She doesn’t respond and Luke’s fine with it. His eyes keep drifting to the tree outside, anyway. He could swear he saw a squirrel climb it up. Since it’s the most interesting thing he can do in a house without internet, he makes sure to pay more attention and see if it lives in that tree. Luke gulps down the rest of his coffee quickly and looks at the clock, hanging across the sink.

His mom has left the kitchen, so he yells, “mom, we have to leave soon!” and rises from the table, ties his shoes and he’s out the door. His mom comes out after a few minutes and asks Luke why he is staring up at the tree.

“Saw something?” she asks.

“I’m looking for the squirrel I saw a couple of minutes ago,” Luke answers, his eyes still scanning every branch. It should be here somewhere. He squints his eyes and tries again, but his mom honks the car and he’s forced to give up.

“I’m coming,” he grumbles mostly to himself and climbs into the passenger seat, ignoring his mom telling him that they don’t have time for squirrel-looking. It’s not his fault she took so long to get out the house; he even warned her they had to leave.

The ride to school is fun. He manages to catch a pretty good radio station and his mom and Luke sing along to oldies the whole way. Actually, car rides are always fun to Luke; the car is the only thing left that reminds him so strongly of home, and he finds comfort in that. The ride comes to an end, though, and he has class to attend, so he’s forced to unbuckle his seatbelt with a sigh.

“Bye, mom!” he says and steps out the car, his shoes crunching up leaves on the pavement. His mom beeps the horn in response and drives off. Even though he’s short on spare time, his eyes still follow the car until it makes a turn and disappears.

It’s cold outside. Luke holds back a shiver and hurries inside where it’s not too cold for a denim jacket. He’d put on something more suiting for the weather, but he doesn’t have a locker yet and he doesn’t feel like carrying a jacket everywhere he goes.

The schedule says he has algebra first once again. This time he doesn’t forget the last name on the door (it’s Mr Iero) as he takes his assigned seat. Most of the students are already settled, since Luke is not ten minutes early this time. The teacher is chatting with the boys at the table in front of his own, but apart from that people are mostly silent. Heads bent down and eyes glued to textbooks, they are going over the formulas one last time before first period starts. They’re taking a test today, but Luke’s not worried, he’d studied last night instead of unpacking.

Luke takes a seat and pulls out a pencil just in time for the bell. He watches Mr Iero stand up and smile. He’s saying something, but Luke lets everything slide past his ears and only comes back to senses when he’s been handed the test.

+

As soon as Luke enters the cafeteria someone yells, “Luke! Over here!” and Luke whips his body around in surprise and maybe fear, too. Oh, it’s just Ashton.

“Hey, Ash,” he smiles shyly and is positive Ashton didn’t hear him because he’s standing at least twenty people away. That is fixed quickly when Luke makes his way over to Ashton.

“Wanna sit with us?” Ashton asks probably referring to himself and another boy sitting by the table. Luke nods and takes a seat next to Ashton.

“Um, hi, I’m Luke,” Luke says to the boy across the table and thinks about extending a hand to him, but the boy beats him by offering his own.

 “Calum,” He introduces himself as Luke takes his hand for a shake. “Ashton wouldn’t shut up about you,” he says and Ashton lets out a scoff.

 “That’s not true,” he counters, but the slight blush on his cheeks says otherwise.

“Liar,” Calum mutters through a smile and bends down his head, unlocking his phone.

Ashton sighs in defeat and kicks Calum under the table for good measure. “I only said you might spend lunch with us today,” he explains, to which Luke nods.

Ashton has a sandwich cut into two triangles on his tray while Calum has a chocolate bar in his hand. Luke suddenly remembers he’d taken a pack of cookies from home for lunch. He picks up his backpack from the ground where he’d dropped and fishes them out.

“Anybody want one?” he asks and Calum glances up. Luke offers him the pack and Calum shoves his chocolate bar into his mouth before taking a cookie. “Thenkth,” He says to Luke and attempts at a smile, which doesn’t work out too well.

Luke takes one himself and shoves his cookie-holding hand towards Ashton, but he shakes his head.

 “I’m good,” Ashton says and tilts his sandwich briefly before taking a bite out of it. A short silence falls, all three of the boys busy with eating and, in Calum’s case, staring at his phone as well.

Luke takes his time to examine the dark-haired boy in front of him while he munches on his cookie. He wouldn’t call it ‘staring’, he’s just met the guy and in Luke’s opinion he’s allowed to take a good look at him. Judging from his baggy eyes, he probably had little sleep, or maybe it’s just the lighting. Phone in right hand, Calum’s tapping the fingers of his left one against the table in a sloppy rhythm. Suddenly, Calum shifts in his seat and Luke quickly looks away, his heartbeat fastening. He doesn’t get caught, but only by a whisker.

“So, Luke, you new here?” Calum asks as he pockets his phone, and Luke is forced to look to the other boy again. He notices Ashton also looks up from his hands and sets his gaze on Luke.

“Yeah,” Luke starts, “we moved in last week. My mom and I, that is.” He pauses after that, not sure what to say.

Thankfully, Calum doesn’t let the silence hang in he air for too long. “And you’re in school already? Usually they take longer to accept newbies.”

“Mom got most things sorted over the phone while we hadn’t moved yet,” Luke explains, He drifts the topic in a different direction, as far away from the reason Luke had to move, and says, “I don’t have a locker yet, though.”

“You could always use mine if you need it,” Ashton offers and Luke turns his head to be met with an ear-splitting smile he can’t help but return.

“Thanks.”

The chatter begins again, and Luke’s too busy with the story he’s telling to notice the frown Calum shoots at Ashton, and the shrug that the latter boy gives as response.

+

“What the fuck, Ashton?” Calum hisses as soon as he closes the door to the boys’ bathroom.

“What the fuck yourself, Calum?” Ashton hisses back with just as much anger as he rubs on his wrist that had been gripped tightly by Calum the whole way there.

“Are you out of your mind? Befriending this Luke guy like you know him?”

Ashton sighs. “Yeah, and what’s wrong with that?”

Calum looks around and lowers his voice as he says, “he’s a massive mama’s boy, don’t you think he’ll tell on us?”

Ashton shakes his head with a small laugh. “Don’t be so paranoid, of course he won’t.”

Calum doesn’t say anything for a moment, his eyebrows knit together in deep thought.

“How do you know that?”

“Well, I don’t _know,_ I hope. You need to lay off the crack, he won’t tell.”

Calum doesn’t even look like he heard. He grabs Ashton’s hand and pulls the boy closer. “I don’t fucking trust him, and you shouldn’t, either.”

“He doesn’t even know anything!” Ashton defends. His voice isn’t as calm as it was, and it reflects directly in Calum’s scared eyes. Ashton doesn’t wince when Calum grips his hand tighter and tries giving him a smile.

“Look, if it’s so important to you, I won’t tell him anything.”

“Okay,” Calum nods.

“I’ll change my mind if you don’t let go of my hand, though,” Ashton cracks a smile.

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Calum releases his bone-crushing grip and readjusts his backpack strap. “We should get going, probably.”

“You sure you’re not gonna shit your pants? In that case, the stall’s over there.”

“Shut up, asshole, I have six grams in my locker right now, you know how fucked I’d be if someone found out?” Calum asks as he pushes the bathroom door open, walking quickly to get away from Ashton’s laughter. The other boy catches up, though.

“I’m sorry, I was kidding,” he says and throws his arm around Calum’s shoulders, a goofy grin on his face.

“I know, I’m still not over the last time the maid found my supply and told my parents, I guess.”

“It’s all good,” Ashton slides off his arm off Calum’s shoulders and pats his back instead, “you’ve got a better hiding place now.”

+

Luke turns away from the counter, his tray only containing a bowl of salad. His mom insisted he took something from home for lunch again, and he gave in eventually and made himself a sandwich.

He looks around the cafeteria, hoping he’ll see Ashton and Calum, but the boys are nowhere to be seen. Luke sighs and starts making his way towards the tables, hoping to find a free one.

No such luck, the cafeteria is packed. There is a table all the way across the room and Luke decides to go for it and, shit, some kids plop down by it as Luke’s almost at it.

With a sigh, he turns around. Guess he’ll have to find a spot somewhere else.

And he does.

“Uh, can I sit here?” He awkwardly asks a random boy who is sitting alone. A small voice in Luke’s head nags that he’s just waiting for his friends.

The boy doesn’t respond at all, then glances up at Luke and takes out one earphone.

“What?” he asks.

“Can I sit here?” Luke motions to the table. The boy just shrugs and sighs out a ‘sure’. Luke takes a seat beside the boy reluctantly.

“I’m Luke,” he says after a while. Loudly. His cafeteria table buddy had put the earphone back in after Luke sat down.

“Are you talking?” he asks Luke, earphones still intact. Luke nods, and the boy purses his lips in annoyance as he pauses his music.

“What now?” he raises a pierced eyebrow at Luke’s shy smile.

“I’m Luke,” Luke repeats.

“Okay. Can I go back to my music now?”

“What’s your name?” Luke insists.

“What is this, kindergarten?” he snaps and pushes himself up. Luke sighs and watches the boy making his way out the cafeteria.

+

Luke spots Ashton in the parking lot after school later that day, or, Ashton spots Luke.

“Luke, hi!” he yells and waves enthusiastically, then motions for him to come over. Luke shuffles to what he assumes is Ashton’s car and finds not only Ashton there but also Calum laying in the backseat.

“Why is he like that?” Luke asks. Ashton just shrugs his shoulders and pokes his head inside the car.

“How are you feeling, dude?” he asks in a hushed tone, almost impossible for Luke to hear. Calum’s response is even quieter, but Luke’s sure he used the word ‘fuck’ somewhere in there.

Ashton reaches out and pats Calum’s leg before turning back to Luke.

“He’s not feeling well for some reason, must be something he ate,” Ashton shrugs.

“Oh, that’s shitty. I have some water, if he wants?” Luke offers, already unzipping his backpack.

“Cal, you want water?” Ashton asks Calum, who opens his eyes and nods his head. Luke passes the water bottle and watches Calum gulp most of it down frantically.

“So, you got a license?” Ashton turns and asks Luke casually.

“You mean, like, a driver’s license?”

Ashton nods.

“Nah, didn’t pass the first time and gave up,” Luke says and slumps down his backpack on the ground, it’s heavy. “Why?”

Ashton hesitates. “Uh, just wondering,” he says with a shrug. Luke senses something is wrong with the two, but he doesn’t think he’s in a position to ask, at least not yet.

“I should get going,” Luke says, “see you guys tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Ashton nods, and Luke feels like maybe they don’t hang out with him out of pity. He gives Ashton one last smile, says goodbye to Calum and starts untangling his earphones as he walks home.

+

Luke is late to class, and it’s only been five days since he’s in this school. His mom will kill him if he gets detention, he thinks as he rushes to his classroom. He’ll just say he couldn’t find it and hopefully will get away with it, right?

Slightly out of breath, with an untied shoe and his hair all over the place, Luke opens the door to his algebra class, mutters a, “sorry I’m late”, and is just about to take his seat when he notices some other person sitting in it.

“Hemmings, calm down,” the teacher stands from his desk, “I need to talk to you. Just a moment,” he says, and writes an equation on the board so the rest of the students are occupied. Then he steps over to Luke, who is scared shitless. This is it. The school is gonna call his mom and he’ll be fucked.

“I’m so sorry I was late, I swear it won’t-” Luke starts, stumbling over his words, but Mr Iero just laughs and waves a dismissal hand.

“Jesus Christ, kid, I don’t care about that, it was only a few minutes.”

Luke lets out a relieved breath, but then raises his eyebrows – what _is_ it, then?

“There are some kids in this class that really need help, and since you’re good, I want to offer you a tutoring job for extra credit,” Mr Iero explains.

“How many kids?”

“Only one, I’m sure you have enough things to do as it is.”

“Oh. Yeah, okay, I can do that,” Luke agrees, because why not? Maybe he’ll become friends with the student.

“Awesome. Take a seat in the back row, to the left. I had to change up the seating, since most of the tutoring hopefully will happen during class. And your partner should turn up soon enough, if he’ll please.”

Luke nods and goes to his new seat. He takes out his books and tries to give all of his attention to the teacher, and not to wondering who the student is. He scans the class, trying to figure out who is missing, but nothing comes to his mind.

He doesn’t have to wonder long, as the student walks into the classroom about ten minutes after. Luke realizes it’s the same boy from the cafeteria earlier, the one with the purple hair and the eyebrow piercing. To hell with a good start, then. Luke just hopes the guy doesn’t make full-blown assumptions from first impressions.

“I’m late,” the boy says.

“Are you even sorry for that?” Mr Iero puts his piece of chalk down and dusts off his hands.

“No, not really,” the boy shrugs, and finally notices Luke, despite the latter’s futile attempts at making himself look as small as possible.

“Figures. Go to your seat and say thanks to Luke for agreeing to help you not fail my class,” the teacher says, and a few kids snort with laughter. He silences them quickly with a glare, though.

The boy mutters something that sounds a lot like “asshole” to himself as he passes by the desks and slumps into the chair next to Luke, then scoots his desk away just to prove some stuck-up point. Luke can’t say he’s not offended, but he doesn’t show it as he ignores the boy back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yeah, that was the first chapter, what do you think?


	2. Chapter 2

After school, Luke gets invited to hang out with Ashton and Calum. They had decided to go grab coffees at a local café, because Calum thought Luke needed to know where to get good coffee if he’s gonna live in this town.

And it is good. Luke takes another sip of his latte and pours another package of brown sugar before deciding the coffee to sugar ratio is perfect now, and walks over to their table outside of the café.

“So, what’s up with you?” Calum raises his eyes from his phone and asks.

“Eh, I got myself into this stupid thing,” Luke says as he slumps into a chair and sets his coffee on the round table.

“Already?”

“Yeah. My algebra teacher gave me this asshole I’m supposed to get out of failing,” Luke mutters. He can feel the anger coming back into his body, so he busies himself with sipping his coffee until he’s at least partly collected himself before he continues, “he wouldn’t do any of his work and then he made fun of me.”

Ashton raises an eyebrow, “care to elaborate?”

Luke sighs and tells the two about the boy’s and his short but infuriating (on Luke’s side) conversation. He doesn’t tell them about that time he was an ass to Luke in the cafeteria, because they don’t need to know Luke doesn’t know how to make friends.

“Why do you care so much for this punk? It’s not your fault he’s a fucking dumbass and will live with his parents ‘til he’s fifty,” Calum says, and receives a chuckle from Ashton.

“You have a point. I don’t even know why I care. Probably because I like a challenge,” Luke shrugs.

“What’s his name again? Maybe I know him,” Ashton asks.

“Oh, his name,” Luke lets out a nervous laugh, “I don’t really know. He never bothered telling me.”

“Well, what does he look like, then?”

“Bright hair, something purple, I think,” Luke says, and stops for a bit to think, “an eyebrow piercing, uhh, and-” Luke gets interrupted by a collective groan from Calum an Ashton.

“We know him alright.”

“I assume you aren’t fond of him?”

Calum shakes his head, “no, he’s a nice enough guy, just a little difficult.”

“Easy for you to say,” Ashton scoffs, “you’re probably the only person in our school he can stomach.”

Luke watches the conversation somewhat intrigued, somewhat amused as he nurses his coffee and stretches out his legs under the table.

“Stop craving Michael’s approval and stop being so hyperactive for once, maybe he’ll like you then,” Calum retorts. Ashton takes his coffee and licks the lid instead of responding.

“Michael?” Luke asks, watching Calum switch the lids on his and Ashton’s cups.

“Yeah, Michael Clifford. Good luck with him,” Ashton says and winks. Luke isn’t so sure Ashton was kidding when he said ‘good luck.’ 

+

Fifteen minutes into equation solving time and two encouraging glances from Mr Iero later, Luke decides it’s worth it losing their _Who’ll Ignore the Other Longer_ game, and puts his pencil down.

“Are you gonna work, like, at all?” Luke asks.

At first, Michael doesn’t even look like he heard Luke, but after a few seconds of silence, he just shrugs and mutters, “no, are you?”

Luke gives Michael an offended look. “I _am_ working!” he hisses.

“No, now you’re bothering me. That’s not working,” Michael replies easily, still not sparing Luke a glance. Luke is getting irritated, but he assumes that is exactly what the boy wants, so he doesn’t show it. Instead, he picks up his pencil and does a few equations, before turning to him again.

“Why are you like that?” he asks.

“Like what?” Michael asks back, and finally glances at Luke, even if it’s just for a fraction of time. Luke wonders if he remembers the cafeteria incident.

“Like you don’t give a single shit about anything. Will it hurt if you solve a few problems instead of sitting there doing absolutely nothing for fifty-five minutes?” Luke hisses as he grips his pencil tight in his hand.

“Wow, I feel so inspired, have you considered being a motivational speaker?” Michael mocks and leans back in his chair even more. Luke takes a deep breath and turns away from the nameless boy as of yet, trying to suppress his irritation as he pretends not to notice anything else but the worksheet in front of him.

Luke’s hand stops mid-equation, completely forgotten, as the boy is deep in thought. Okay, what would happen on a worst case scenario if Michael didn’t get off his high horse? Luke will probably be declared a loser who can’t help a kid for shit, and will probably be thought of as bad at math.

“You know what?” Luke turns at Michael sharply, “you can’t do algebra to save your life.”

“First of all, shush before we get detention,” Michael says, way more silently than Luke, “and second of all, you’re not gonna make me prove you wrong by saying such bullshit, if that’s what you want.”

Luke sighs. “What’s two plus two?”

“Three,” Michael says easily.

“Two plus two is not three!” Luke says in bewilderment, “It’s four!”

“It is, in fact, four, Hemmings. Now please shut up and let Clifford do his work,” Comes Mr Iero’s voice, followed by a few giggles from the students in Luke’s class. Luke sinks in his seat as he feels his cheeks heat up.

“Yeah, shut up and let me do my work,” Michael smirks.

+

“Hemmings, would you stay after class for a minute?” Mr Iero calls he stops going around the classroom when he reaches Luke’s table. Michael sniggers and Luke doesn’t kick him under the desk only because the teacher is right there.

“But I got a B plus,” Luke pleads, worry written all over his face and heartbeat fast.

“We’re going to talk about Clifford, since he didn’t even show up,” Mr Iero explains, his hands in pockets and posture relaxed. Luke leans back in his chair with a relieved sigh, much calmer as well.

“I had a family emergency as I said earlier,” Michael grumbles, staring at his desk.

“Sure,” Mr Iero laughs, “if smoking by the dumpsters is a family emergency,” he says easily and continues walking by the tables, checking in on every student.

“You smoke?” Luke whispers, “It fucks up your lungs, did you know that?”

“Yeah, I do, that’s why I don’t smoke.”

Luke raises an eyebrow, opens his mouth to say something, but then closes it and flails his hand towards Mr Iero’s back instead.

“I did it because Mr Iero was looking,” Michael rolls his eyes.

“That’s stupid, and you shouldn’t have skipped the test.”

“You would get along great with my mom.”

“Whatever,” Luke turns back to his worksheet, “I’m telling on you.”

Michael scoffs. “What are gonna tell him? That I don’t work during class? Tragic.”

“You can drop the I-don’t-give-a-shit act and start working. Maybe then I won’t tell.”

“Nah, you being a total teacher’s pet seems good to me.”

Luke feels offended, but showing it would only fuel Michael’s childish demeanor, in Luke’s truthful opinion, so he just offers Michael the middle finger and doesn’t say a word to him for the rest of the period.

+

“You wanted to see me?” Luke asks. Everyone’s already left the classroom, including Michael, who wiped an invisible tear and said, “I’m devastated,” before laughing and slipping out the door. Mr Iero stands from his chair and leans against his desk instead.

“How’s Michael doing?”

Luke shrugs. He’s having second thoughts about this whole thing now. “Good, I guess.”

“Define ‘good’.”

“Uhh,” Luke shifts his weight to his heels, and then to the tips of his toes a few times. “The same as he was before I got here,” he finally admits.

“Jesus Christ,” Mr Iero mutters and runs a hand through his hair. “We had a talk last night, and he promised me that he’ll get himself together. I don’t know what to do with anymore, he’s on the edge of being expelled.”

Luke shrugs again, feeling uneasy and awkward in his own skin. He’s never seen a teacher so hopeless before, and that kind of makes him want to beat Michael into a pulp.

“Have you tried calling his parents?” he suggests after a moment.

“Numerous times. They’re just as lost as the entire school’s administration,” he mutters, eyes unfocused, staring into his own thoughts. Then he shakes his head a bit and says, “that’s not the point. I was thinking over my idea, and I think you should return to your seat. This is too hard for you, and I shouldn’t have dragged you in.”

“No!” Luke exclaims, then clears his throat and tries a little less loud this time, “it’s okay, sir, I got this! Just give me one more week, I’m sure I can handle it.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to overwork you.”

“I’m sure,” Luke nods.

“Okay, you can have him ‘til he’s expelled,” Mr Iero laughs, “now get going, you have classes to attend.”

Only on his way to his history classroom, Luke starts wondering why he didn’t give the annoying brat what he deserves. Luke had the perfect chance to get back at Michael, but some little voice told him not to. That voice better know what it’s talking about, Luke thinks, trying not to get shoved or injured in any other way in the busy, packed hallway.

+

“No way, man,” Calum says after a long pause. He takes a drag of his joint and offers it once more to Ashton, who declines again.

They’re supposed to meet Luke soon, and they’re also supposed to sell weed at the same time. Ashton had suggested they just take Luke with them, but Calum is still paranoid.

“So what do you suggest we do? Ditch Luke?”

“No, we ditch that other guy. There’s plenty of weed in other places,” Calum shrugs.

“That’s stupid.”

Calum gives Ashton a weird look. “How is that stupid?”

“You have to sell this shit before you smoke it up yourself,” Ashton explains less patiently than before.

“You need a chill pill, Ash,” Calum says, then giggles, “or, a chill joint.”

“Christ,” Ashton says through a heavy breath. It’s hard dealing with Calum’s lack of motivation sometimes, and this is one of them. “We should get going, Luke’s probably already waiting for us.”

“Tough shit. Just call him and tell him to come over,” Calum says as he puts out the stub into an ashtray. Then he lifts his feet off the balcony railing and stands up slowly, letting his legs wake up. “No, actually, call the pizza place.”

“I’m gonna do both, ‘kay?”

+

Luke’s in the park when he sees Michael.

He’s been sitting on a bench by the sidewalk for at least five minutes. Ashton and Calum were late, and neither would text back. Luke was saving the ‘call them’ option for when at least fifteen minutes will have been passed so he doesn’t come off as too pushy. So instead of freaking out he’d plugged his headphones into his phone and turned up his music loud. His eyes were wandering all over the park – from the ducks swimming in the small artificial pond, to the children playing in the playground as their parents made awkward small talk with each other.

He watched a kid trying to pass the monkey bars, and after a while turned his head to the other side of the park, letting a figure slip through his vision unnoticed for a fraction of time. Except, the figure was a boy. With familiar bright hair, and a familiar leather jacket. And he was walking towards Luke.

That is exactly why Luke pauses his music and takes out his earphones. He doesn’t say anything, just very much obviously stares at Michael. The other boy notices Luke a moment later, and raises a pierced eyebrow.

Michael stops in front of Luke and shoves his hands in his jeans’ pockets. “Why are you so weird?”

“It makes my personality less boring,” Luke replies, “hi.”

“Hey,” Michael nods, and looks at Luke pointedly. “So?”

“What, ‘so’?”

“Scoot over.”

“Oh, that!” Luke slides closer to the edge, and Michael plops onto the bench next to Luke.

“What would a pretty boy such as yourself be doing at a park in this hour?” Michael asks casually, an arm slung over the backrest of the bench.

 Luke gives Michael a confused look, “it’s only, like, eight, and what are you doing?”

“I’m sitting. Also breathing, and-”

“Okay, I get it! You’re being an ass again,” Luke cuts Michael’s bullshit off mid-sentence. He then remembers his mom saying interrupting is rude, and almost apologizes for it, but it’s Michael he’s talking about here.

“Am I bothering you?” Michael asks. Luke’s not sure if he’s being serious.

“A little bit.”

Luke checks his phone, and there are still no new messages from his friends.

Michael sighs and slumps his shoulders a bit, the self-confident and cocky air around him quickly changes.

“Here’s the thing. Mr Iero let me do a do-over on the test, and if I fail, I’m out the school.”

“Uhh,” Luke rubs his upper arm awkwardly, “good luck?”

“Jesus Christ,” Michael breathes out, “don’t make me say it.”

Luke catches on after a second and understands exactly where this is going. “Make you say what?” he asks, unable to make himself stop smiling.

“Now _you’re_ being an ass, you know,” Michael mutters. He then takes a deep breath, drags his palms across his face, and opens his mouth to say something, but Luke is faster.

“Okay, I’ll help you.”

Michael perks up instantly, sitting up straighter. It’s only for a second, though. Soon enough, he flings an arm around the backrest in a relaxed fashion, and throws Luke a cocky smile. “Well, if you insist, then okay.”

“Stop it,” Luke warns, “stop it or I’ll see you emptying your locker tomorrow.”

+

He did _not_ ask Luke for help simply because he never does such absurd things. Pft. Asked for help. Luke was the one who offered it.

Michael nods to himself, walking alongside Luke to Luke’s place. Luke had thrown a mild fit saying his mom will be back from work and she’ll want her rest, but Michael said his parents are even more strict, so Luke had reluctantly agreed after texting some friends of his he won’t be able to make it.

“So, where did you get stuck?” Luke asks, probably just being polite, or too awkward to handle a little silence between the two.

Michael shrugs. “I mean I know the quadratic formula, but that’s about it.”

“Seriously, where were you the last eleven years worth of math classes?”

“I was actually pretty decent at it until, like, the eighth grade,” Michael explains. He really was, but then he discovered better things to do with his time.

“We still have loads to cover. Remember our deal?”

Michael rolls his eyes dramatically and recites, “attend class and do my best.”

Luke raises an eyebrow, “and?”

“I’m not saying that phrase.”

Luke stops in his tracks, “then I’m not helping you.”

“Fuck’s sake, Luke,” Michael turns back and gives the boy a glare. It doesn’t work well, so he sighs and crosses his arms before mumbling, “and be study buddies with you.”

Luke smiles, and Michael just grimaces at him, starting to walk again with more speed than needed, considering he doesn’t even know the way to Luke’s house.

+

“Hi, mom!” Luke yells as soon as they step into the house. Michael can smell dinner, and that’s pretty much all he wants right now.

His mom steps into the hallway and hisses, “I’m on the phone, and why are you bringing friends over at such a late hour?” before going back into the kitchen with her phone pressed tightly between her ear and shoulder.

Luke turns a bright red as he looks at Michael apologetically. “I’m sorry, she’s very nice, I swear,” he stutters.

“Being polite runs in the family, huh?” Michael irks, toeing off his shoes. When Luke goes into the kitchen, he puts them neatly against the wall, and follows.

“Katie, I’m gonna have to call you back, okay?” Luke’s mom says loudly, trying to over-shout the sizzling in the frying pan. Michael, urged by Luke, takes a seat by the table, and watches him set it.

Michael doesn’t volunteer to help, mainly because he doesn’t care, and a little because he’s tired.

“Hi, Luke,” Luke’s mom smiles as she sets her phone on the counter and stirs the food in the pan.

“Hey. This is Michael, he’s my friend,” Luke points to his friend, apparently. Michael has to bite his lip not to object, but that’s only because Luke’s mom gives Luke a proud smile. Michael assumes Luke didn’t have any friends back home, so why not let the loser seem like a normal kid? 

“Oh, that’s wonderful! Are you from Luke’s school?”

“Yeah,” says Michael and props his chin on the heel of his palm. “When’s dinner?”

Luke coughs in discomfort, and Luke’s mom offers Michael what seems an extremely fake smile, “It’s gonna be ready in a few minutes. Do you like rice?”

“It’ll do, unless you have anything else,” Michael replies, watching Luke get even more embarrassed.

“Luke can fix you a sandwich, right?” Luke’s mom turns to a very red Luke, who nods and goes straight to the fridge. Probably to put some ice on his cheeks, Michael decides.

+

"What the fuck?" Luke hisses, dragging Michael by the hand into his room. Michael barely has time to shut the door before he's thrown onto the bed by Luke, who then slumps into his desk chair and rubs his face before going off again, "my mom gave me the look, Michael.  _The look_."

"Your bed is real comfy, dude," Michael grins and bounces up and down a few times. 

"Were you raised in the fucking jungle?" Luke snaps, louder this time. Michael thinks his mom probably heard.

"No, but you clearly were. The fork goes on the left side of the plate, and the tea cups don't come in until dessert is served. You did a shit job on setting the table."

Luke seems embarrassed for a moment, but then he scowls at Michael. "You did a shit job on being a proper student and now I'm stuck with you because of it."

Michael throws his head back in laughter and clutches his hand to his chest, "Your words are daggers, Luke Hemmings."

"You deserved those, dickface. Now let's get into algebra before I kick you out." 

+

They call it a night when Luke's mom comes in for the fourth time, asking Luke if he knows what time it is. Luke does, and Michael does, too, but the test is in three days, so he persuades Luke to go over some more material. 

The floor is trashed with loose papers, written up to the very last free space, and the desk Luke and Michael are huddled next to is covered with textbooks, writing utensils, and candy wrappers. 

"Why hadn't your parents called?" Luke asks Michael when they start tidying up the room a bit. 

"They probably had."

"You should call them back," Luke says, and gathers another pile of papers to the center of the floor.

"I'll see them in about half an hour, what's the point," Michael replies, and it comes out just a little bit angry. Luke picks the detail up, judging from the look Michael's being given right now. 

A knock on the door breaks the silence, and Luke's mom pokes her head in once more. "Boys, should I get the inflatable mattress?" 

Luke looks at Michael, and Michael pretends not to notice the glint of hope in the  boy's eyes as he shakes his head and says, "no, I was just about to go home." 

“Do you need a ride?”

Michael shakes his head again, “I live not far away.”

Luke’s mom nods and leaves the two alone in Luke’s room.

“You don’t really live not far away,” Luke states.

“I live on the other side of town. Goodnight," Michael says not quite looking into Luke's eyes, and leaves the room before he does something stupid.

"Night," he hears Luke say before he runs down the stairs and puts his shoes on in a hurry, not bidding a good night to Luke's mom. It's chilly outside, but Michael is burning, and his heart's in his throat for some reason. 

He skips algebra the next day.

+

Is this karma biting him for exchanging Ashton and Calum for Michael? It probably is. Luke can't tell why, but he feels betrayed. Michael promised him he'd attend class, and now look at Luke, sitting all by himself. 

"Mr Iero?" Luke raises his hand, "may I go to the bathroom?"

Mr Iero quickly scribbles something on a bright pink piece of paper, and Luke stands up to take it. According to the bathroom slip, Luke has five minutes to find Michael and- and what then? Luke figures he'll know what to say when the moment comes as he takes long strides across the hallway. 

Michael's not in the library, let's be honest, so Luke takes a turn towards the art block. He remembers seeing Michael walk out the music room countless times. He takes a minute to catch his breath before opening the door, and no, Michael's not there. Luke mumbles a quick apology for interrupting class and closes the door. 

With only two minutes left, Luke tries the auditorium door. It's unlocked. Luke pushes it open quietly and steps inside silently, as to not interrupt a theater class that might be going on. The whole room is pitch dark, for the exception of a spotlight on the left side of the stage. On the choir risers, a bit to the left of where the light is hitting, there's no other than Michael, with a guitar plugged into an amp. He seems so mesmerized with the music he's playing, he doesn't even notice Luke lurking by the exit, following his every move with his blue eyes. 

Michael suddenly stops playing and starts writing on a piece of paper frantically. He writes something down, and goes back to light strumming. 

"Why don't you play arpeggio like before?" Luke asks, scaring both himself and Michael. Michael snaps his head up and curses as he runs a hand through his hair.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Hemmings?"

"What are  _you_ doing here?" Luke shoots back. He's not here to listen to Michael do anything but tell him he's going back to class with him right this second. "We agreed you wouldn't cut class anymore, last time I checked." 

Michael opens his mouth to say something a few times, then sighs. "You play an instrument?"

"Yeah, guitar, why?" Luke asks with his arms crossed over his chest. 

"Then you probably know that inspiration doesn't wait for a convenient moment, it just comes and you either do something about it," Michael waves between his guitar and himself, "or you go on with your usual daily routine and wait for it to come by again."

Luke bites his lip and doesn't reply. Michael is completely right, but the test is kind of important. He shuffles his feet and slowly uncrosses his hands. 

"You wanna hear what I'm working on?" Michael suggests gently, and Luke nods. 

+

Luke comes by his algebra classroom to pick up his backpack after school. Thankfully, Mr Iero is still there, working by his desk. When Luke steps in, he lifts his gaze and raises an eyebrow at Luke. 

"Where have you been?" 

Luke picks up his backpack from the ground and slings it over his shoulder, "um, it was-it was a family emergency." 

"This is the first and the last time I'm letting you get away with such behavior, am I clear? I hear enough about family emergencies from Clifford, I don't need another one like him."

+

Luke still sits with Calum and Ashton during lunch, because Michael was rarely in the cafeteria, and it's obvious Michael would rather eat his lunch by himself, so Luke respects that. Well, most of the time. Luke finds himself staring at Michael way too frequently these past few days, just like this time. He shakes his head slightly and turns back to the conversation. Calum is practically asleep on the table, and Ashton is stealing his french fries while talking about some thing or another. Luke can't find it in himself to tune in Ashton's chatter, so he just takes one of Calum's fries and nods along. 

Yesterday was weird. Luke and Michael had spent almost an hour in the auditorium, just playing random tunes. Michael had a little notebook full of what Luke thinks are songs Michael wrote, but the notebook was off limits, and Luke didn't even get a glance inside, although he really wanted to. Nonetheless, it felt really nice spending time with Michael. It felt like they were good friends, even though they met barely a month ago, and most of it was spent hating each other. 

"Luke?" Luke loses his train of thought, and looks at Ashton (shit, he'd been absentmindedly staring at Michael again), who is waving a hand in front of Luke's face. 

"What?" 

"Do you wanna come over and try out my new playstation? Calum's going, so you should, too." 

Luke looks at Calum, who's sitting with his chin propped onto the table. Calum nods a bit, so Luke agrees. "Yeah, sure, but I'm tutoring Michael right after school." 

+

Luke meets Michael in the library later that day. Michael's a little late, but he'd texted Luke beforehand, so Luke guesses it's okay. Also, he now has Michael's number. 

No idea how Michael got Luke's, but Michael's capable of a lot of things. 

"Hey," Luke greets when Michael slumps into a chair next to him and throws his backpack onto the table.

"Let's get this over with," Michael mutters.

"The test's tomorrow, you only have to push through one more study session," Luke tries cheering Michael up, but Michael's scowl just grows deeper. "Yeah, okay, let's get this over with," Luke mutters and flips his textbook open. 

+

Luke checks his phone for the last time and leans back in his chair. "I gotta go, you think you can handle the rest on your own?"

Michael drops his pen and stretches, "I think I'm good the way it is. Where you going? I can give you a ride." 

"I'm going to Ashton's, if you know him? I don't think I need a ride, though, it's not much of a walk," Luke says, gathering his stuff into his backpack. 

Michael shoves loose papers full of examples on how to solve various equations into his backpack, and snorts. "You're friends with him? And Calum?"

"Yes, is that a problem?" 

Michael shakes his head with an innocent expression, "not at all."

They exit the library together and part ways in the school's parking lot. 

"Oh, and Luke?" Michael calls. 

Luke turns around.

"Have you ever tried cocaine?" 

"Uh, no?" Disbelief is clear on Luke's face as he asks, "do I look like I have?"

"People don't necessarily look like what they are. See you around." With that, Michael shoves his hands into his pockets and leaves Luke in the parking lot. Luke's in a hurry, so he puts Michael's words aside to think about some other, more convenient time. 

+

"Hey," Luke says as he enters Ashton's kitchen. Ashton's already in there, making a snack for the three of them. Thankfully, Calum was too engrossed into the game of Call of Duty to follow Luke out. Luke had been meaning to talk to someone about a problem that's been bothering him for some time now, but he never really found the right person or the right time. Luke's dad had once said, never let faith decide, so Luke's stopped being a baby and decided to confront his problem while he's still sane.

"What's up?" Ashton smiles and flips a piece of grilled cheese in the pan.

"Listen," Luke sighs, trying to collect his thoughts, "I don't really know who to talk to about this."

Ashton turns to Luke, "what do you mean?"

Luke leans against the counter and stares at the ground as he says, "there's this... boy."

"Mhm, and what about him?" Ashton is looking at the grilled cheese as he pokes it with a spatula. "Is he giving you a hard time? 'Cause I can beat him up for you."

"No, it's not that," Luke shakes his head, "Well, he  _is_ kind of giving me a hard time, but that's on my behalf." Now that Luke thinks about it, he could’ve phrased that better.

"Just spit it out, man, I'm not a mind reader," Ashton chuckles. 

Luke takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. "I think i like him," he says quietly and looks up at Ashton, terrified to see his reaction reaction. 

"It's not me, is it?" Ashton laughs nervously and rubs his neck, "because I'm not really into guys. I'm sorry, Luke." 

"No, no, it's not you!" Luke assures. "This is the hard part. I don't know if the feelings are, you know, romantic," he says and wipes his palms onto his jeans. "Never mind, this is stupid," he mutters after a second and stands to leave, but Ashton grabs him by the hand and tugs him back in. 

"It's not stupid, let's talk. Are you so unsure because he's a boy?" 

Luke nods. There's a lump in his throat and he doesn't trust his voice right now. 

"There's a way to find out," Ashton says, and Luke looks at him in confusion. There's a fraction of time, and before Luke knows, Ashton is looking at his lips. 

"Hey, what are you- mmph!"

Luke feels Ashton's hands cupping his face, but nothing else happens apart from the presence of a pair of lips being pressed to Luke's own. Luke's eyes fall shut, and he starts moving his lips. Ashton starts kissing back reluctantly, and it's way too idle in comparison with Luke's racing heart. Luke grips Ashton's upper arms and licks inside Ashton's mouth. Ashton's hands slip away from Luke's cheeks, and Luke hums in protest. There's a soft, but firm push to Luke's chest, and he's forced to break away from Ashton. 

"C'mon," Luke mutters, and leans in to kiss Ashton again, but Ashton turns away, and Luke only catches the boy's cheek. 

"Jesus Christ, Luke," Ashton laughs, "you are so into dudes."

"What the fuck was that?" Luke shakes Ashton's hands off his shoulders and crosses his arms. 

"I was being passive on purpose, and you took absolute lead. I think that answers your question," Ashton explains with a care-free smile on his face. 

Luke blushes a deep red as he shoves past Ashton. "That was mean, but thanks," he says and leaves the kitchen. 

Ashton comes back to his room with three pieces of burnt grilled cheese on a plate a moment later. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i said new chapter on friday, but i didnt have (by that i mean i didnt do) much homework so why not
> 
> reviews are much appreciated!!!


	3. Chapter 3

Luke's mom comes home to two plates of dinner already steaming on the table.

"I made pasta so you don't have to stand by the pots all evening," Luke explains with a smile.

His mom pats his shoulder as she passes by and says, "thank you sweetie, I'll be there in a minute. We have something to talk about.”

Luke knows what they have to talk about. In fact, he knows all about it so well, he went all the way and turned into a kiss-ass with the whole dinner cooking. He takes his seat and starts playing with his fork (that had been on the left side of the plate, Michael) as he jiggles his leg up and down. His mom joins him a few minutes later.

"It looks really good," she smiles and takes a forkful. While his mom eats like a well-mannered person, Luke shovels his portion as fast as he can out of anxiety. He knows his mom won't talk about anything during dinner, so he jumps up and starts the kettle for the tea. His mom is still eating when he sets down two mugs full of fruity smelling tea on the table. Punishment has already started, Luke thinks. He's never been very patient, and his mom well knows that.

Everything comes to an end, and soon enough Luke's mom pushes the plate to the side of the table. "I received a call from school today."

"Mhm," Luke hums, not quite looking her in the eye.

"They said you were absent from second to fifth period," she continues, her voice calm. Luke would prefer if she was angry, and not let down by his stupid decisions.

"I was. I'm sorry," Luke mumbles.

His mom takes her mug and blows on it for a few seconds, then takes a careful sip. "Why'd you skip?"

"We were going over algebra with Michael one last time. He took his make-up test today," Luke explains quietly, already prepared for an earful about how Michael is bad influence.

Luke's mom purses her lips and shakes her head slightly. "I'm sure you see good in that boy, but I don't want you putting him in front of yourself. It's not your fault he started preparing for the test too late."

"Mom, you don't understand!" Luke cries out, then realizes he sounds plain ridiculous. "I mean, I wasn't putting him in front of myself."

"You literally gave up your own education in favor of his," Luke's mom says, "and don't forget your tea, It'll go cold."

Luke grabs his mug and takes a couple of big gulps. He wipes his mouth on his sweater's sleeve and continues, "this is the first and last time, I swear! I just-" he takes a breath and presses his lips together, "I didn't want him to get expelled."

"Oh, Luke," his mom sighs with a fond smile tugging at her lips, "I think we raised you right."

"You haven't heard me curse yet, so don't say that," Luke says and laughs. His mom glares at him, though, so he stops, and clears his throat, "sorry."

+

did u pass ur test?

Luke looks once again at the text he'd sent Michael about an hour ago, then sighs and throws his phone on his bed. He's fidgety and can't stay still for five minutes, which is usual for Luke, but still highly annoying. He stopped wandering around the house after his mom started complaining about how he's making her head dizzy and now he has even less to do. He's listened to music, he's done his homework, and he's taken a shower. There's honestly nothing to do except go to sleep, but it's only half past nine, and he doesn't usually go to bed that early. Screw it, he'll go over his history notes from yesterday once more. Just as he settles in his bed with his notes in hand, the door to his room opens and, what the hell, Michael invites himself into the room with a cocky grin on his face.

"Guess what."

"How did you get here?"

"Your mom let me in," Michael shrugs and plops onto the bed next to Luke, "now guess what."

"Chicken butt."

"Fuck off," Michael laughs, "I got a D on the test."

"D? Not even with a plus?"

"Just be happy for me, I passed."

"That's awesome, of course," Luke smiles, "but you were doing way better than a D."

"I forgot half of it, probably," Michael replies and gets up to get his backpack. "I got you something as a thank you."

Luke also sits up straight and tries to take a peek at the contents of Michael's backpack, "yeah?"

"Yeah," Michael confirms and pulls out a six pack of beer, "cheers," he says and hands Luke the sick pack.

"Uh," Luke clears his throat and takes it reluctantly, "I'm not sure I can keep this at home. My mom might find it."

"That's not my problem. Drink it all right now or something," Michael suggests.

"Where did you get this thoughtful gift, anyway?"

Michael offers Luke a knowing expression, "don't be an ass. It was either this or a really cool rock."

"So thoughtful," Luke laughs and shoves the sick pack as far under his bed as it can go. "I can't believe you came to my house at this hour, dressed like that, and on top of that you brought booze."

"Eh, it's no biggie," Michael shrugs, and looks at his very ripped jeans that seem to be held together by only a few safety pins, "but your mom wasn't impressed at all. I thought she wasn't gonna let me in."

"She's kinda pissed at us for skipping class yesterday. You wanna do something or are you expected to be home?"

"I am, but that won't stop me from staying here a bit."

"Be my guest," Luke laughs.

+

"So," Ashton leans in and looks over the cafeteria quickly, "Calum says it's probably Michael you're so smitten with," he whispers with childish excitement in his eyes.

Luke turns a bright red and tries to scowl at Calum. "I didn't know you were so into gossip."

Calum gives Luke an innocent look, holding up his hands, "I'm just saying, dude. I mean, it's pretty obvious."

"No, it's not," Luke mutters flatly.

"It so is!" Ashton says, and Calum nods in agreement.

"You," Luke turns to Ashton, "how dare you talk to me after spilling my secret like that? Did you tell him about the kiss, too?"

"No, he didn't, what kiss?" Calum asks, and Luke rubs a palm over his face instead of verbal response.

"I kissed Luke, no biggie."

"Ashton!" Luke cries out, and groans, "I'm never telling you anything ever again."

Ashton shrugs, and Calum scoffs, "And what about me? I thought we were friends."

"We are friends, but I literally had nothing to tell you. I don't even know if I like him or not. And can we change the subject?"

"You should tell him," Calum suggests, completely ignoring Luke's request.

While Ashton's showing his agreement by nodding at Luke in encouragement, Luke's eyes are wide in bewilderment. "I should what?"

"Tell. Him."

Luke laughs a high-pitched, nervous laugh. "You're being ridiculous. Seriously, can we talk about something else?"

"The weather's nice, what do you have to say on the topic, Ashton?" Calum irks.

"Oh, the rain is lovely, indeed. What about you, Luke?" Ashton smiles sweetly.

"My hair gets fucked up when it rains," Luke says in a monotonous voice, "what about you, Calum?"

"Mine does not. What about you, Ashton?"

Calum and Ashton now both have shit-eating grins on their faces that make Luke want to stand up and leave before they think of more ways to annoy him. "You two are insufferable," he sighs.

+

"Should I really tell him, though?" Luke asks, and stuffs his mouth with another handful of potato chips. He's splayed out on Calum's bed, and Calum's splayed out on the floor.

"Yeah, totally," Calum replies, and extends a hand for the chips. Luke grabs some and then passes the bag to Calum.

"You keep forgetting that he's a boy, and it's pretty rare for a boy to like boys."

"Are you really that stupid?" Calum argues, "you, of all people, shouldn't assume everyone around you is exclusively straight."

"But everyone is!"

Calum shakes his hand and throws the bag of chips to Luke. "You don't know that and you'll never find out if you keep being a baby."

"Even if i stopped being a baby, which I am not," Luke pauses and pushes himself to his elbows so he can give Calum a stern glare, "I have no idea how I'd do that," he finishes and plops back on the bed.

"You can call and ask him right now," Calum suggests, and stands up to take his phone from his desk, "I have his number."

"Me, too and no, I'm not doing that," Luke pushes himself into a sitting position and watches the phone in Calum's hands. "What are you doing?" Luke asks, still staring at Calum's fingers, tapping away on the screen. "Calum, what the hell are you doing?"

"Nothing," Calum giggles.

"Oh, my God," Luke sighs out and lunges at Calum, trying to rip the phone out his hands. Calum just keeps laughing as he clutches his phone to his chest with no intention of letting go.

"Okay, okay, I'll show you," Calum wheezes out after a second, so Luke stops trying to get his hands on the phone, and takes a step back. "Is it bad?"

"No, it's actually pretty amazing," Calum grins and shoves the phone at Luke so he can see.

are you into dudes?haha

Luke looks at the text message Calum had sent to Michael in horror, then up to Calum. "This is so bad," he mutters and sits down on the bed, "Do you think with your ass, Cal? He's gonna know something's up."

"How on Earth could he know something's up? He knows me well enough to know I say weird stuff from time to time," Calum takes a seat next to Luke and pats his shoulder. "You're being really difficult right now, you know."

"Please don't start," Luke sighs.

Calum doesn't seem to have heard. "It took you about a week to admit you have feelings for him and now you're being too much of a chicken to ask him out."

"We talked for like two minutes in total that week, and I think that's good enough reason not to tell him," Luke counters.

"You're overthinking it," Calum says easily, and picks up the bag of chips from the other side of the bed, "If you never tell him, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. And besides, you don't know when he's gonna get kicked out of school, so you don't really have much time."

Luke scoffs, "Please, he's not gonna get kicked out."

"I wouldn't be so sure. I have IT with him and let's just say I've seen him in class twice this year."

Luke doesn't reply as he takes Calum's phone to see if Michael's texted back.

+

Luke, encouraged by Calum, had decided to spend the night, because Michael hasn't been texting back for almost two hours and Luke "can't not be here for the answer, you gotta stay, man."

"I'm not sure if wanna be here for when he says he's not interested in boys," Luke says weakly, although he's pretty antsy to hear whatever Michael's going to (if he's going to) reply.

"You're just saying that so you can go home and do homework all night," Calum scoffs.

"Ha, ha, very funny. I don't do homework all night, especially not on Saturdays."

"Because you did it right after school on Friday," Calum teases.

"One more word and I won't let you copy it," Luke shoots back. "In fact, you should really start doing your own homework if you wanna graduate school."

"Okay, mom," Calum scoffs. "It's not like i have until the end of the school year 'til graduation."

"Whatever, loser. I always order a Big Mac combo, keep that in mind for future reference," Luke says and gives Calum a sweet smile.

"Just from looking at you I couldn't be able to tell you have such a sharp tongue, Hemmings," Calum laughs.

"I have the perfect comeback for that, but I'm gonna spare your feelings."

"A man with the kindest of hearts, Lucas, the kindest."

Luke does something that would've been a royal bow-down if he was standing up, and Calum lets out a soft laugh.

+

Calum's phone goes off sometime later into the night, when it's rightful owner is downstairs pestering his mom about one thing or another, Luke can't find it himself to remember or care, and the sound almost makes Luke's heart skip a beat.

It's Michael. Or is it? It's probably not.

Luke shoves Calum's laptop off his lap and makes a stand. He goes down the stairs silently, and finds his way into the kitchen in hope to find Calum there but luck is not on his side.

"Oh, hi, Mrs Hood," Luke says as politely as he can manage. He doesn't remember Calum telling his parents Luke's staying the night.

"Hello," Calum's mom gives Luke a timid smile and a pat on the cheek. "Will you get Calum for me? And put some slippers on, your socks will get dirty."

"Oh, um," Luke looks down at his white socks, "I was actually looking for him myself."

"He's not in his room?"

Luke shakes his head.

"He must be out with the dogs, then," she says. "Well, just tell him to come talk to me when you see him, okay?"

"Okay."

Calum's mom rubs Luke's cheek once more, probably as a non-verbal thank you, and slips out the kitchen before instructing Luke to make Calum and himself some sandwiches.

Luke only manages to spread peanut butter on three slices of bread before curiosity takes over his sense of personal property and he practically runs up the stairs into Calum's room. He grabs his friend's phone and types in the passcode in nervous hurry, and ghosts his finger over the message app. Luke knows himself well enough to know that his hopes will be let down really hard if the answer turns out to be not the one Luke wanted so desperately for it to be, but he really really wants to know. After a quick second Luke decides he has, not wants, to know, so he taps on the icon and reads the text.

you got bud? id be there in fifteen

Well, that's definitely not Michael. Respect and self control out the window and blown away by the wind, Luke scrolls up the conversation, most of it just being some not-so-subtle variation of 'do you have any weed?'. Surprisingly enough, Calum seems to always have some. It takes Luke a little time to put two and two together, and he locks Calum's phone with shaky hands, sets it on the desk, and runs down the stairs.

Calum opens the front door and steps inside, followed by his two dogs, just as Luke finishes tying up his shoes.

"Where you going?" Calum asks, confusion clear on his face.

Louke doesn't dignify with response, he just pushes past Calum and takes off at a fast pace.

"Luke? What's going on?" Luke hears Calum call after him, but he doesn't stop. He can hear Calum running up to him, and with his heart in his throat and his eyes on the sidewalk, Luke stops in his tracks just to say, "stay away from me."

"What?" Calum asks quietly, and then a bit louder, "what are you talking about?" When Luke doesn't stop walking, Calum tries getting hold of Luke's arm, but the boy shrugs himself out of the grip harshly and looks Calum straight in the eye. "Stay the fuck away from me, Hood, I'm serious."

Calum doesn't try stopping Luke for the third time. Good. Luke wipes away the tears as he walks fast, frustration and anger suppressed into his tightly clenched fists.

+

Luke doesn't want to go home.

He already told his mom he's staying the night at Calum's and if he comes back, questions will be asked and he's not sure he has the answers. The phone pressed to Luke's ear beeps twice more, and then it goes to voicemail.

"Hi, it's Ashton, I'm busy right now..." Luke mocks silently in a high voice, and ends the call. It's okay if he looks weird doing it, he's all alone in the street.

+

At first, Michael can't even feel his phone vibrating in his pocket. That, or maybe he's too engrossed into the video game he's playing. Yes, it's almost one in the morning, and yes, he has school tomorrow, but he reckons he'll just skip.

The phone gets Michael's attention when it starts buzzing for the second time. He swears under his breath and pauses the game.

"What?" he asks whoever dared calling him at such an hour.

"D-did I wake you?" comes a shy voice.

"No, and who are you?" Michael questions and slips his headphones off, so he can hear better.

"It's me," the voice says. Michael is ready to groan in frustration. "Luke."

"Oh," Michael breathes, and stands up unconsciously. "What's up?"

"Dunno, nothing, I guess. What about you?"

Michael rolls his eyes, "get to the point, Hemmings."

The line is silent for a little while, then Luke says, "I kind of don't have where to sleep tonight."

"Uh, huh," Michael hums. He didn't even notice he'd started pacing in his room. "And you told me that because?"

"Why do you always act stupid? Actually, don't answer that, I already know."

Michael sniggers, "oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah. You're a sadistic asshole who likes to watch me suffer." Michael can hear Luke take a deep breath, "I'm asking you to let me stay at your house." Luke's voice is flat, he's probably suppressing embarrassment and anger.

"Okay," Michael replies, "but you'll have to climb through the window."

Luke lets out a relieved sigh. "Thank you," he says. Michael can hear the smile in his voice.

+

Luke ends up literally climbing the window. He did put up a small, silent fight, though.

"Are you serious? I'll fall and die. The tree is fucking slippery!" Luke hisses in a shrill whisper.

Michael just laughs, and leans further out the window. "Just put your- Luke, dammit, listen to me! Put your foot over there."

"Where?"

Michael points his finger, "on that branch."

Luke sighs and puts his foot on one of the branches. "This one?"

"No, but if it gets you up then go ahead."

Luke hugs the slimy, wet from the rain trunk of the tree and tries getting his foot on the branch, which seems impossible even for someone as tall as Luke. He tries a branch that's closer to the one he's standing on, and pushes his body up. Okay, he's standing up and he's standing firmly. Nothing to worry about.

"Okay, now climb higher," Michael instructs. Judging from the smile on his face, the boy watching Luke struggle from his window is having way too much fun.

Luke tries a random branch. His foot slips just a mere second before he shifts his whole weight onto it. Luke grips the trunk tighter and bites his lip so he doesn't scream. "This is far too dangerous, I wanna go down immediately."

"C'mon, Luke, I've done this a million times. You just gotta let go of the damn tree and start utilising your hands," Michael encourages. "You’re two branches away from me, get yourself together."

"It's easier said than done, you know, climbing a tree after it's been raining," Luke mutters, but digs his heel into another branch. It doesn't give out on Luke's weight, so he reaches a hand out, grabs a branch way above him and lifts himself up.

"There," he pants, and looks at the ground for a second. It's not that high, to be honest, but the way the wet grass is glistening under the moonlight kind of reminds Luke of shattered glass, so he pretends his heart is beating at a normal pace as he tries to find another branch which will help him get into Michael's room.

"I'm getting kind of chilly," says Michael, "hang on, I'm gonna go grab a sweater."

"No, Michael, wait!" Luke pleads just above a whisper, but Michael's already nowhere to be seen. Luke sighs a deep sigh and continues his search for a strong enough branch.

Michael isn't back when Luke pushes himself onto the last branch that is almost perfectly aligned with the window to Michael's room. He's not back when Luke slides his body towards the window with shaky hands on a shaky branch, and he's not back when Luke places a tender hand onto the windowsill, his whole body following shortly.

Luke drops himself onto the ground just below the window he'd climbed through and lets himself breathe. Holy shit, that was extreme. He wipes his dirty hands onto a random article of clothing he finds on the ground and sits up. An euphoric feeling fills Luke's heart; as ridiculous as that sounds, he's proud of himself. Luke, the kid who always found the most outrageous excuses so he could sit out on gym, just climbed a tree and is now in a room on the second floor of a house.

"You didn't die," comes a silent voice from the doorway. Michael is standing there with a washed-out black sweater on and a mug of something in his hands. Luke opens his eyes and moves his body into a less slumped-against-the-wall position.

"No. I started doing a lot better when you stopped with the useless advice, actually."

"Good for you," Michael replies. He enters his room and closes the door softly. "I made you a hot chocolate, because I figured you'd be cold," he says and hands Luke the mug. "I mean, it's whatever," he adds then and shrugs.

"Thanks," Luke smiles up at Michael and wraps his hands around the warm mug. He takes a careful sip, and then another one. Meanwhile, Michael takes a seat by his computer and taps his fingers against the desk a few times.

Abruptly, Luke starts coughing, choking on his hot chocolate. He covers his mouth with his hand, and the coughing reduces after a few seconds.

"Are you crazy? You're gonna wake the entire neighborhood up!" Michael hisses.

"Sorry," Luke smiles sheepishly, then coughs once more, "it's only I just realized I left my backpack in your backyard," he says and tries the smile once again.

"You cannot be serious right now," Michael mutters under his breath. "I won't let you climb that tree twice more, don't even think about it."

"Well, someone's gotta do it!"

+

Michael said he will not risk waking his parents or let Luke do it, so the backpack stays propped against the tree for the night, much to Luke's dismay. He checks the weather and calms down only when three different forecasts show it's not gonna rain again until Tuesday, so Luke guesses the backpack can spend the night outside.

"I have three textbooks and a pair of earphones in there," he says in his defense.

"I will literally buy you new ones if those get wet, now will you please stop distracting me?" Michael asks as he sinks into his chair, slipping his headphones off in the process.

"I'm just worried my stuff will get ruined," Luke explains quietly.

Michael gives him a nasty glare, so Luke pretends to be fascinated by what's outside Michael's window as he takes a careful sip of his hot chocolate.

"You done?" Michael asks after a stretch of silence.

Luke nods, "yes."

Michael sits upright and goes back to his game. Luke's not much of a gamer, despite having a lot of experience in the field. He watches Michael play the video game as he sits on the bed, nursing his hot chocolate. Of course, watching is not as fun as playing, but Luke's eyelids are getting heavy and his thoughts are cloudy. He rubs his eyes and breaks the silence again, "Michael?"

"Shut up, Luke," Michael mutters, not stopping staring at his computer screen.

"Michael," Luke tries again. This time he's not even dignified with a verbal response. "I'm grateful and all, but you're a shitty host," Luke says. His words, once again, go without being paid any attention to.

Luke sets his mug on the ground and stands up, walking over to Michael. "We have school tomorrow," he points out and shakes Michael's shoulder.

"Hemmings, for the love of God," Michael mumbles as he keeps mashing at some button on his keyboard.

"We should really go to sleep," Luke insists and shakes Michael's shoulder once again.

"Okay, how about this," Michael pauses the game and stands up. "You go to sleep," he starts as he throws his pillow and covers on the ground, "and I carry on doing whatever I want," he says looks as Luke pointedly.

"Yeah, it's-it's fine, I guess."

"Good. Now wait here and don't touch anything," Michael warns and slips out the room quietly. Luke only manages to sit back down on the bed and swing his feet a couple of times before Michael comes back, hugging a new set of bedding.

"Good night," Michael mutters as he closes the door carefully with his foot and drops the bedding on Luke. "I'll wake you for school if I don't forget."

"So I just sleep on your bed?" Luke asks, pushing the bedding off himself and on the bed.

"Yes."

"Umh, okay," Luke watches Michael take a seat by his laptop. "Where will you sleep?"

"I won't," Michael hangs the headphones on his neck, "good night."

"Wha- you won't sleep? You have to!"

"I'll sleep when you go to school or something. Good night, Luke," Michael explains, impatience in his tone, and looks at Luke sternly, as if daring him to say one more word.

"But school," Luke argues weakly, avoiding Michael's eyes. He knows he's pushing it and Michael will probably ask him out the house, but school is pretty important. "Why would you sleep during school?"

Michael lets out a hearty laugh, and slaps a hand over his mouth. "How are you so ambitious, honestly?"

"I just know what I want in life, don't laugh," Luke says.

"Well, I don't. I just know that right now I wanna stay up all night and skip school the next morning."

"We've been over this, like, a million times," Luke sighs and stands up, "you can't skip school just because you want to," he lectures as he goes up to the computer and turns it off. Michael doesn't seem to be too upset over it as he takes off his headphones and places them on the desk carefully. However, he does call Luke a bossy douchebag and a shit person.

"Yeah, okay," Luke scoffs, "I feel bad for your parents," he says and beds down on the floor, then picks up Michael's cover along with his pillow and drops them on the bed. Michael watches Luke with an annoyed look on his face, then says, "you sure you wanna sleep on the ground?"

"Well, yeah, where else?"

"We can both fit on the bed, you know," Michael suggests with a shrug.

Luke's cheeks flush a bright red as he clears his throat awkwardly, "I'm-it's okay, the ground is fine. Even better actually, I prefer the ground over the-"

"Okay, I get it, you're very straight and very fucking masculine. No homo, right?" Michael snaps and stands up. He throws his pillow to its place by the headboard violently and spreads out the cover over his bed.

"That's not what I meant," Like sighs, even more uncomfortable, "I just-"

"You just what, Luke?" Michael cuts him off rather loudly.

Luke shifts under Michael's piercing gaze and gulps down. "I just... don't think it's a good idea right now."

"Seems fucking reasonable to me," Michael scoffs. "Good night," he says bitterly and flicks the light switch off. He then plops into bed and leaves Luke standing in the dark.

"Michael, stop being so dramatic, you literally came up with a meaning behind my words on your own," Luke says. Michael doesn't respond, so Luke continues, "I meant something entirely different, and just for the record, I'm not straight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoop there it is, luke outed himself on accident
> 
> another non-friday update, because i seriously dont have anything better to do than edit fanfics
> 
> what do you think pls let me know i love comments!


	4. Chapter 4

Thoughts have been flying through Luke’s head all night, making abrupt turns and jump-cuts. Tonight’s incident just kept playing over and over, forcing him to overthink every single detail and spend ages regretting his decisions. Calum isn’t even on his mind right now, because he is trying to figure out what the hell went down between him Michael earlier today. The fact that he said he’s not straight out loud for the first time was also a huge turn of events, and it didn’t even get a reaction out of the only witness.

Luke’s tempted just to stand up and flee while Michael’s still asleep but he’s tired and cold. He doesn’t want to spend the rest of the night wandering around the city, either.

Michael’s bed creaks, and Luke opens his eyes (not that it matters, it’s pitch black) so he can see what’s happening. “Michael?” he whispers.

Even after a few moments, there is no response but then, out of a sudden, the bedside lamp goes on, and Luke covers his face with his hand. “What the fuck?”

“Go to sleep, we leave for school in an hour,” Michael says.

“What the fuck?” Luke repeats. Did he not get any sleep? “It’s still dark outside.”

“Those are blackout curtains, go to fucking sleep.” With that, Michael stands from his bed and goes out the room.

“Shit,” Luke mumbles to himself. He won’t be able to focus at all today, just like the last time he thought staying up all night was a good idea. He puts his pillow over his head and closes his eyes shut. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep…

“You want coffee? ‘Cause you probably do.”

Luke groans and shoves the pillow off his face. “I have no chance of falling asleep for even a little bit, do I?”

“Nah,” Michael says as he closes the door rather loudly, so Luke opens his eyes and blinks a few times, trying to get used to the bright light. Michael’s holding a cup in his hand, which naturally makes Luke want whatever he’s drinking, too.

“Is that coffee?” Luke asks as he pushes himself into a sitting position. “Because I need it,” he adds. Sleeping (lying) on the floor didn’t do wonders for Luke’s muscles at all.

“It’s my coffee,” Michael shrugs and takes a sip.

“Share it with me?” Luke asks. Michael gives him a weird look and raises a pierced eyebrow.

“I literally didn’t get any sleep,” Luke explains with a shy smile.

“I can tell, you look like shit,” Michael chuckles and passes his coffee to Luke with a little reluctance.

The coffee is still hot, but Luke takes a scalding gulp and swears loudly after swallowing it down. “Ew, it’s bitter,” Luke scrunches up his nose and gives the coffee back to Michael.

“What did you expect? Sugary milk with half a shot of watered down espresso?”

Luke hums an I-don’t-know and lies back down on the ground, “At least a teaspoon of sugar would’ve been nice.”

“There’s two sugars in there, what kind of diabetes do you drink? Jesus Christ, Luke.”

+

Michael acts like nothing has happened last night, so Luke goes along and doesn’t mention it, although it’s hard to do so. At least, until he sees Calum at school. Then everything goes to shit.

Luke’s walking down the hallway with a takeaway cup of coffee in his hand and Michael beside him when a voice calls out, “Luke! Wait up!”

Michael stops, and so does Luke for a second. He turns around, sees Calum making his way to him, and decides he’s not ready.

“Let’s go,” Luke urges as he starts walking quickly. Michael catches up to him after a second with an amused smirk on his face. “What was that about?”

“I don’t know,” Luke answers truthfully. “C'mon, don’t be so slow,” he then mutters impatiently as his eyes scan the hallway for any potential hiding places.

“Luke!” Calum’s voice is closer now. Shit. Luke is on the verge of starting running as fast as he can when a hand grasps his backpack and yanks it backward.

Luke turns around sharply and yells out, “what?”

Calum takes a small step back as his hand drops by his side. He looks thrown off when he mumbles, “I just wanted to talk.”

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Luke says flatly and crosses his arms over his chest. He can see Michael having the time of his life witnessing the exchange, but his mind is set on getting Calum away from him.

“Can you just listen, then?” Calum pleads, “you completely misunderstood me.”

“Like hell I did,” Luke scoffs.

“Is this about Calum’s drug problem?” Michael asks through a half-suppressed smile. Calum just gives him a glare as Luke tells him to shut up. “But yeah, you’re right, it is.” Luke says to Michael as he gives Calum the dirtiest look he can manage.

“Just hear me out, okay? In private?” Calum asks. Luke doesn’t respond, mainly because he doesn’t know what to say. “Meet me in the parking lot after school?” Calum presses further with a hopeful look in his eyes. Luke wants to object, but after a moment he just nods curtly and sets off to his first class without another word, leaving Michael and Calum behind him.

+

“Seriously, what the hell was that?” Michael asks Luke, slightly out of breath, when he plops into his seat. Luke doesn’t intend to start talking until Mr Iero finishes his scolding at Michael for being late, once again, while Michael nudges Luke with his elbow a couple times as some sort of physical form of encouragement.

“… call your parents again, Clifford,” the teacher finishes, and Michael almost lets out a scoff, then turns to Luke again, “so?”

“Stop being such a girl,” Luke whispers angrily. He has his worksheet in front of him and he’s determined to solve it all before class ends.

“Like that’s an insult,” Michael retorts, and nudges Luke once more, “I’m just curious, come on.”

“Well, maybe it’s none of your business.”

Michael just laughs loudly. Everyone turns to look at him, and at Luke as well, which makes the latter want to hide away from all the eyes. “Shush!” Luke hisses.

“Care to explain why you’re interrupting my class?” Mr Iero raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, I just remembered this joke,” Michael giggles again before continuing, “okay, so, three vampires walk into a bar-”

“Two bloods and a blood lite, I know,” Mr Iero rolls his eyes, “next time you’ll be telling that joke in detention. Are we clear?”

“Crystal,” Michael smiles, then turns to Luke again as soon as Mr Iero goes back to teaching. “Did you suddenly realize he’s a bad influence on you?”

“You’re a bad influence on me, so just be quiet,” Luke grits through his teeth, eyes never leaving his hands.

“Not gonna deny it, but at least you’re a decent influence on me.”

“Oh, my God, will you stop talking if I promise to tell you at lunch?” Luke slams his pencil down.

“Deal,” Michael smirks.

+

Calum has been pacing back and forth in the empty hallway for what seems like forever. He’d texted Ashton he has got to excuse himself from class right this second, and apparently Ashton is a massive asshole and/or doesn’t ever check his phone.

It’s not that Calum’s nervous about what is going to happen after school, he’s just somewhere between angry at himself, embarrassed, and confused. Friends do have to trust each other, and he’s been hiding something pretty big from Luke. Oh the other hand, with the way he’d reacted, Calum was right, in his own opinion, when he decided not to tell.

“Is something wrong?” comes a distressed voice.

Calum lifts his eyes from the ground and sighs in relief, “where the hell were you? I’ve been waiting for like ten minutes.”

“Sorry, I had to finish my pop quiz,” Ashton shrugs.

“Whatever. I think I’m in some deep shit,” Calum says, then looks around the hallway for unwanted ears, “Luke found out yesterday,” he whispers.

“Was he pissed?” Ashton whispers back with slight horror in his eyes.

“He was pissed. I had to beg him to let me explain after school today,” Calum says and rubs a hand down his face, “and I don’t even have an explanation.”

“Yeah,” Ashton agrees, “you’re in deep shit.”

“You don’t say,” Calum rolls his eyes. “What am I supposed to tell him?”

“Well, what exactly does he know?”

“I dunno, probably just the fact that I deal,” Calum shrugs.

“He probably added two and two, though,” Ashton says. “I told you doing drugs will get you in trouble.”

“Not all dealers are dopes themselves, and Luke isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to weed.”

“You keep telling yourself that,” Ashton laughs, “and I think we should find real jobs.”

“Why? Don’t you like a Benjamin Franklin per day?”

Ashton shakes his head. “The constant worry just isn’t worth it. Besides, if you fuck everything up with Luke, he’ll probably snitch on us.”

“You can’t be serious,” Calum says, “we shouldn’t be talking about it at school, at least.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ashton agrees.

“Just think about it, okay?”

Ashton nods and turns on his heel, “'kay, see you at lunch.”

“Where are you going? I still don’t know what to tell Luke!”

“Tell him the truth, obviously,” Ashton says over his shoulder before he disappears behind a classroom door.

+

Michael is stuck with practically carrying Luke into the cafeteria by the time lunch rolls around. The blond is being been nothing but a whiny child, and it’s worsening by minutes.

“Let’s get you a coffee, yeah?” Michael mutters and tugs on Luke’s arm in such ways so that the boy wouldn’t bump into other people.

“I don’t wanna, I wanna go home,” Luke mumbles. His backpack slips off his shoulder and slumps onto the ground. Luke doesn’t seem like he’s noticed, so Michael lets out an exasperated sigh and picks it up, slinging it on top of his own backpack.

They manage to make it to the cafeteria without any other incident. Michael guides Luke to a vacant table, props Luke’s backpack by the leg of it, and says, “at least keep your eyes open, Jesus Christ. I’m gonna leave you for a little bit, think you gonna be alright?”

Luke grunts in response, and Michael takes it as a yes. He makes his way out the cafeteria, right through the front door and to the coffee shop nearby. For a day in late November, it’s fairly warm outside, but Michael’s hands still get a little frozen by the time he enters the coffee shop.

“Skipping school again?” the barista, Ryan, asks with a mischievous glint in his eyes. The coffee shop is empty, aside from the middle-aged lady sitting by the window.  

“Not this time,” Michael laughs, “just supplying a sleepless kid with caffeine.”

“What would he like, then?”

“A double espresso, probably.”

Ryan nods, and turns to the coffee machine. He presses a button and the old thing wheezes back to life.

“Make that a double espresso with milk, actually,” Michael says.

“Is that the kid you have a crush on?” Ryan asks casually.

“W-what?” Michael splutters, “what are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb. You’re very much smitten with the blond goofball,” Ryan shrugs and and raises an eyebrow at Michael like it’s obvious.

Michael is red in the cheeks as he says meekly, “I am not, have some faith in me.”

Ryan scoffs, “Okay,” he agrees with as much sarcasm as he can manage as he starts pouring milk into the cup. “That will be three seventy-five,” he says as he shoves the drink across the counter, which Michael catches just in time.

“Thanks,” he says as he hands Ryan a fiver.

When Michael comes back to school with thirty minutes of lunch break to spare, Luke’s accompanied by Calum and Ashton by the table. He’s got a piece of clothing folded up on the table and his head laid down on it. The other two say their hi’s to Michael, to which he just nods (that’s his way of saying a friendly hello).

“He asleep?” Michael points his thumb to Luke as he slides into a seat beside the boy.

“Probably,” Ashton shrugs.

Michael gently shakes Luke’s shoulder, “wake yourself.” When Luke only buries his face deeper into his makeshift pillow, Michael starts shoving at his shoulder more violently. “Here’s your coffee, drink up.”

At the mention of coffee, Luke lifts his head and stretches one hand out. Michael pushes the cup closer to Luke.

“Does this have sugar in it?”

Michael fishes out four packets of brown sugar and drops them on the table. The rest of the table watch Luke pour the contents of three of them into his coffee, and leave the fourth one untouched. He then takes a cautious sip, and then a few big gulps.

“This is good,” he says to Michael, then looks at Ashton shortly, his tired eyes settling on Calum. The latter squirms under Luke’s gaze, and Michael just props his chin on his fist. He guesses he doesn’t need Luke telling him what happened, he’ll see for himself.

+

“Uh, you alright?” Calum asks, careful around Luke like around a wild animal.

“Yeah, you?” Luke is trying to act solemn, but drowsiness is making his eyelids heavy and his thoughts fuzzy. “Luke…” he hears someone say, and Ashton rises from the table, shortly followed by Michael. Now that only Calum is sitting across the table, Luke kind of wants to start swinging at him, but maybe that’s the caffeine talking.

“Can we talk?”

Luke takes a sip before answering, “If you have anything to say, go ahead.”

“I would if you told me what’s wrong in the first place,” Calum says with forced calmness in his tone.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that you fucking deal drugs,” Luke says quietly but with venom, leaning in toward Calum.

“That’s not really your concern.”

That seems to shake Luke out of whatever state of mind he was in. “It’s my problem because- I mean-” he stutters, then throws down his coffee like cheap vodka and wipes at his chin with his sleeve. “I guess it’s not,” he finally mutters in defeat. “Not directly, at least.”

“We’re good, then?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Luke shakes his head.

Calum is visibly upset, but the tone of his voice gives little emotion away. “What? Why?”

“It just-” Luke takes a deep sigh and rubs at his eye, “ever since the thing with my dad, I guess I’ve been avoiding substances that cause strong addiction,” he explains, tripping and stumbling over his own words. Calum is about to say something in reply, but Luke beats him by starting first, “I was wrong and I had no right to get angry with you, because it’s your life and your decisions, but-”

“Luke, don’t say it,” Calum warns in a weak voice.

“I won’t, because we both know what’s this about. I’m sorry, I just can’t.” With that, Luke pushes himself into a standing position, grabs his backpack and walks out the cafeteria at a fast pace.

+

Luke ignores everyone around him for the rest of the day, skips school on Thursday and Friday pretending to have food poisoning, and doesn’t allow himself to even think about the whole situation that is his social life.

Instead, he thinks of his life in his hometown. Yeah, it might have been worse than it is now, him having no real friends and being in the middle of a falling-apart family, but at least those weren’t his problems, as selfish as that sounds. He thinks about the school he gone to, the silent lunch breaks, the long walks home, sometimes shortened by his mom picking him up.

Luke’s running out of time, and he has so much to do before he falls into an adult routine, with a job to have, tax to pay, more responsibility to weigh his shoulders. The only thing he’s doing now is hiding in his room for the third day straight, doing absolutely nothing and not contributing to his own well-being at all. Maybe this is wrong.

“Mom?” Luke yells. He then hears footsteps, and the door creaking open.

“Is something wrong?” his mom asks as she steps into Luke’s room.

“Kind of,” Luke admits, is not coming to a compromise unreasonable?“

His mom lets out a dry laugh. "It really depends on the situation. Is the other person willing to do so as much as you are?”

“I guess I didn’t ask.”

“Then you should stop being so quick tempered and talk it out before you make any decisions.”

“I think I already did,” Luke sighs.

“Step over your pride and fix whatever is it that you’ve done,” Luke’s mom says.

Luke groans, “I shouldn’t have asked you.”

“I’m just being realistic.”

“That’s the problem, mom. I don’t wanna face the truth.”

“It’s either that or misery, your choice,” his mom shrugs. “Come down for supper in about fifteen minutes, I made soup.”

+

Luke turns off airplane mode on his phone and hops in for a quick shower. When he comes back rubbing a towel on his head and checks his phone, the amount of text messages discourage him for a moment. Half of them are from his mobile carrier, notifying about the people that had tried to call him, and all the other ones are from Michael. Luke only reads the first few, which are, in that particular order: can u send me ur algebra hw? and youre an asshole, i got one more week of detention.

Luke shoots back a quick shouldve done it urself :) before he takes a deep breath and finally presses on the 'call’ option by Calum’s name. His enthusiasm lessens more and more by every beep, then, Ashton picks up for some reason. “Luke?”

“Ashton?”

“Calum’s taking a piss.”

“Oh,” Luke blinks.

“Are you calling to fix things between you two?” Ashton asks like it’s his business.

“Yeah, actually.”

“Oh, thank God,” Ashton sighs in relief, then clears his throat, “I mean, good luck, or whatever. I don’t wanna ruin anything for you guys.”

“Uh, okay,” Luke drops his towel on the ground and starts pacing back and forth. “So, how are you?”

“I’m in the middle of English homework, so I couldn’t be worse,” Ashton giggles, “but everything else is- oh! Calum, Luke’s on the phone for you!”

Luke can hear nothing, and then a shy, “hello.”

“Hey,” Luke greets with as much uncertainty.

“Why weren’t you at school?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Luke says quickly, then starts talking louder, “This is kinda hard to say, so bear with me.” He takes a deep breath and looks at the little piece of paper with a couple of key-words scrawled on it.

“Okay, first of all, I’m sorry for being an asshole, and secondly, do you think we could find, like, compromise or something?” Luke says in a blink of an eye as he grips his phone tightly.

“Y-yeah, I mean, yeah, totally,” Calum babbles. Luke can tell he’s trying to contain himself, so he laughs joyously and plops on his bed, “awesome. Wanna meet up after your study group meeting?”

“It’s not a study group meeting, it’s just Ashton and his stupid textbooks he’d brought along, so you can drop by anytime,” says Calum, then adds in a bored tone, “or whatever.”

“Yeah, um, okay,” Luke clears his throat awkwardly, “I’ll be there in, like, thirty minutes,” is that too desperate? “or an hour, I don’t know.”

“Okay, see you.”

“Bye,” Luke sighs and whispers a forceful yes when Calum ends the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im gonna ge honest with you: i dont know what was i thinking when i wrote all that unnecessary drama
> 
> but apart from that i think this chapter is pretty rad


	5. Chapter 5

Luke is on Calum's doorstep exactly thirty seven minutes later. He'd been in such an anxiously excited state he almost left his house in his slippers and nearly walked into a a lamp post a few times. He's pretty positive he isn't gonna leave this place with a frown on his face, and that only fuels the bubbles that are in his chest right now. 

It's not Calum, however, who opens the door. It's not even this house's resident - it's Ashton. He smiles at Luke as he trudges a bulky backpack beside him, "hey!"

"Hi," Luke says and giggles to release at least a small bit of excitement that’s ripping him apart on the inside, "already leaving?" 

"Yeah, I figured you didn't need spectators for the occasion," he shrugs. "See you at school Monday, yeah?" 

"Most likely."

"Cool," Ashton smiles, "bye, then." 

"Bye," Luke says through an amused smile as he watches Ashton pick up his bicycle, hop on and skillfully maneuver down the street. He then lets himself in, toes off his shoes and climbs upstairs to Calum's room. There's soft music playing through the closed door, almost inaudible through the pounding of Luke's heart in his ears.

Luke wipes his sweaty palm on his jeans and places it on the doorknob, trying to swat away the swarm of intrusive thoughts attacking his mind. Yeah, okay, maybe this is a set-up and he'll get majorly fucked over, but there's only one way to find out, right? Luke takes one last heavy breath and twists the doorknob in one sharp motion, swinging the door open.

Turns out, the music isn't something from speakers, it's just Calum sitting on his bed with a guitar in his lap. He stops playing as soon as Luke steps in, and gives him a timid smile. "Luke, hi."

"'Hey." Luke closes the door behind him and shoves his hands in his pockets. Calum also rises from his bed and stands in front of Luke. Luke feels a bit suffocated, although there's the entire room separating them. 

Neither say anything for a long stretch of time, then Calum clears his throat. "Uh, so," he starts nervously, "I thought it over and... I sold all my stuff."

"Yeah?" Luke breathes. He's staring at his socks and refusing to lift his burning face up. 

"Yeah. I'm done with weed."

Luke's breath hitches in his throat. "For real?" 

"Uh-huh," Calum hums. "I was getting in too deep, and you kind of were the last straw. I couldn't let myself just ruin my whole life like that."  

"That's good," Luke smiles.

"Yeah," Calum agrees, "I'm glad I found it in myself to stop before guns got in the picture."

Luke looks up in shock, and Calum laughs, "I'm just kidding, calm down."

"Oh," Luke says through a smile. 

"We good?"

Luke nods, and doesn't look down again. Instead, he walks up to Calum and wraps his arms around the boy's shoulders. Calum is quick to hug back as he says, "thank you, seriously."

"For what?"

"For giving me a swift kick in the ass, I don't know where I'd be in a year if not for you."

"I'm just happy you've decided to end it." Luke is the first one to pull away. He sits on Calum's bed, with Calum following shortly. 

"How did this whole thing even start?" 

"It's kind of a funny story," Calum says. "Ashton was my dealer a couple years back, and i figured if I bought weed in a bulk for a way lower price, I could sell half and smoke the other half for free. It even brought  in profit. Sounds pretty harmless, right?" 

"Probably," Luke shrugs. "Personally, I wouldn't do it."

"But I did. As the pool of customers grew, the paranoia became more intense. At that point, it was driving me insane," Calum pauses for a little. "Feels refreshing to have nothing on me. Back then I was constantly afraid of someone telling on me, or getting arrested. Shit, I even got robbed once." 

"I get shivers from just listening to you, in all honesty," Luke chuckles.

"Imagine experiencing this first-hand. Horrible." 

"But all's good now, yeah?" 

Calum smiles, "yeah."

+

Now that Calum and Luke are friends again, the whole ask-Michael-out-already tirade is everything Luke seems to hear. He also finds out what Michael had texted back - he managed to completely forget about the text - which only adds fuel to the fire.

Luke had tried to steer the conversation away from the topic, but Calum had a different idea for today's lunch break. At least Ashton was too occupied with history homework copying and was as interested with Michael's text as Luke - not at all. 

"It kinda seems like you're the one with the crush," Luke says to Calum after the latter shoves his phone once again into Luke's face. 

"But look, it literally says he's into boys!"

"No, it literally says 'I'm into people', and that's not the same thing," Luke argues.

"Boys are people."

"But that doesn't mean I'm people," Luke sighs as he stabs at his salad absent-mindedly.

"Oh, my God, you're at it again," Calum groans and takes a bite of his muffin. "Would it hurt to just ask him out?"

"Obviously? I don't want to fuck shit up, he just stopped hating me."

"Ashton says you should do it," Calum shrugs and then nudges Ashton's shoulder, "right?"

"Piss off," Ashton mutters, keeping his eyes on some person's homework. 

"But Ash," Calum shakes Ashton's shoulder again, "he won't listen to me."

"Then why don't you go pester him more and leave me be?" Ashton offers.

"What? No!" Luke frowns at Calum's shit eating grin.

"Jesus," Ashton sighs, "Luke, just ask the guy out, and Calum, stop giving Luke shit for being a pissbaby," he says flatly before going back to his work. 

Both Luke and Calum scoff and say at the same time, "I'm not a pissbaby," and, "someone's gotta do it!"

"Shut the hell up, it's already embarrassing enough that you know, and the fact that you're constantly reminding me isn't doing much justice," Luke says. Honestly, he's tired of not knowing what to do, he just knows what not to do, and that is listen to Calum's advice. 

"You're gonna die alone if you keep this act up every time you like a person," Calum says with a casual shrug of his shoulders.

"Smack down," Ashton mutters and giggles.

Luke glares at Ashton first, then at Calum. "I'm not, I just need to find the right time."

"And when will that be?"

"I don't know," Luke blows out a desperate breath, "when I get a sign from the sky or something."

"I am the sign from the sky," Calum says loudly, "and I'm telling you to go up to him right now and tell him, because the time is never right."

"Really?" Luke raises a skeptical eyebrow.

"Sure, why not," Calum nods, "This is real life, not some rom-com."

"I guess you're right," Luke admits reluctantly. "But I need to over-caffeinate myself first."

"Coffee is also a strongly addictive substance," Calum points out.

Ashton whips his head up and with wide eyes (Luke figures Calum told him about their one-on-one) as he looks at Luke's reaction. 

"I don't control whether coffee triggers me or not, now do I?" Luke huffs and picks up his backpack. "See you later, losers, I'm gonna hit up that coffee shop and find Michael before lunch is over."

"Get him, tiger!" Calum yells to Luke's retreating back and laughs. Luke hides his red face with his hand as he makes his way out the cafeteria.

+

After a massive cup of strong coffee (with milk and sugar, thank you) and an awkward exchange with the barista who had a yet different scarf wrapped around his neck, Luke goes back to school a new person. A new, jittery, overly-enthusiastic person. Not that he feels like a person - he feels like the energy of fifty suns compressed into a lanky body. 

Okay, better now than never. 

Luke takes out his phone and texts Michael to meet him by Luke's locker. He says Michael better do so 'asap as possible' for good measure, too, which he does. Luke spots Michael making his way up to him a couple of minutes later. He looks like he's got nowhere to be, but by the small things Luke's picked up over the time, he can tell Michael is at least a little bit nervous. 

Not as nervous as Luke, though. Has he mentioned he's prone to thinking up shitty ideas and actually having the stupidity to come through with them? Yeah, Luke has a slight feeling he's in the middle of one right now. 

"Something happen?" Michael asks casually. Luke can feel a pair of green-blue eyes scan his face for any emotion. 

"Uh, n-no, not really," Luke shrugs. It's either the coffee, or he's nervous about asking Michael out. "Just wondering if you wanna," Luke can feel a wave of nervousness wash over his stomach, "just, y'know-"

"No, I don't, get to the point."

"If you wanna," Luke takes a deep breath and shifts his weight to his heels, then back to the tips on his toes, "you wanna check out the squirrel that lives in the tree near my house?" 

Michael looks as surprised with Luke as Luke is with himself. "A squirrel?"

"Uh-huh," what the fuck, Luke?  "although I haven't seen her around in a while. She used to hang out in the tree everyday back in, like, September," Luke rambles, "I put out some nuts once, but I don't think she took them."

"What an asshole," Michael states dryly. "Thanks for the offer, but maybe we can do something more exciting?"

"Like what?" 

"No idea, I have detention for the rest of the week, so that sucks and I don’t really have much time to do anything exciting," Michael tells Luke.

"Detention? For not doing homework?"

"That, and calling Mr Iero 'Frankie.' No big deal, in my opinion."

Luke laughs, "not exactly worth a week of detention, is it?" 

"Oh, absolutely. You should've seen his face, " Michael sniggers, "he looked like a mixture of an embarrassed toddler and a professional who's trying to keep his cool."

Luke throws his head back in laughter once again. "Okay, that's kinda funny, but have you considered cutting the guy some slack? He goes out of his way just so you don't get expelled."

"Yeah, I know, but if I change my attitude, me getting expelled won't even be a problem anymore."

"Isn't that the point?" 

"No, that's the complete opposite of the point."

The bell signaling the end of lunch startles the boys out of their conversation. They part their ways, and Luke goes to his English class, feeling disappointed in himself and embarrassed, but at least his intentions were good. Or, decent enough.

+

The only class Ashton is having with Michael this year is English Literature. He used to have more classes with him, but that never made them become friends, or even hold a conversation, for that matter. The two didn't really have any reason to talk to each other until Luke happened, but now they do and Ashton and considers Michael an acquaintance, at least. 

Ashton walks into his classroom with a few minutes to spare. He's earlier than usual partly because he has nothing better to do, but mostly because he wants to score a seat next to Michael today - after all, Luke did ask him to go on a date sometime in the past thirty minutes, and he wants to hear all about it. He'd tried bugging Luke about it, but he wouldn't text back.

Michael hasn't turned up yet. That's okay. Ashton takes a seat in front of Michael's usual place in the back of the room, and waits. The teacher walks in. The bell rings not long after. She starts lecturing, and Michael is nowhere to be seen. What a drag, Ashton huffs, as he finally flips his textbook open and starts taking notes.

"... is a literary movement based on a-" the teacher's monotonous stream of words gets interrupted by the door being creaked open. 

"I'm late," comes an even more emotionless voice. Ashton looks up and, of course, it's Michael. 

Ashton watches him make his way to the very back, and take his usual seat. The right time to ask doesn't roll around until the end of the period, which is why Ashton ends up being on pins and needles until then. 

+

"Michael, wait!" Ashton calls out as he puts his (plagiarized) homework on his teacher's desk, and rushes out the classroom. "You mind being late for your next class?" he asks, falling into step with Michael.

"Not really," Michael gives him a look that could only be described as bordering on hostile, which is not exactly pleasant. "Why?"

"I wanted to know how it went, and Luke won't answer my texts," Ashton explains. 

"How what went?" 

"What do you mean 'how what went?' "

Michael shakes his head slightly. "I mean, I have no idea what you're talking about."

Ashton sighs in frustration, "I'm asking about you and Luke."

"What about me and Luke?"

"He said he was gonna ask you out. Did he?" 

"He said what?"  Michael stops in his tracks. He looks appalled, and that's how Ashton realizes he fucked up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ashton went all get rekt luke in this one
> 
> dumb jokes aside, this chapter is a little shorter than usual because i decided to split it into two so now expect this story to consist of eight, not seven, chapters 
> 
> what do you think of this fanfic? any constructive criticism?


	6. Chapter 6

Luke is absolutely mortified upon hearing what happened as Ashton and he walk home. At first he just asks Ashton a bunch of questions, laughing in disbelief, and then reality seems to have kicked in. He sits right there on the sidewalk and covers his face with his hands. 

"I'm so sorry, Luke, I really thought you asked him out," Ashton apologizes profusely for what seems the millionth time. 

"I cannot believe he knows," Luke mumbles.

"Come again?"

"I said I cannot believe he knows!" Luke shouts. "Now I'll have to convince mom to move to another continent and everything. This is so embarrassing, Jesus fucking Christ."

"You're being ridiculous," Ashton says as he takes a seat next to Luke.

"I'm being realistic," Luke hisses, and hides his face again. 

"Luke, you were literally on your way to ask him on a fucking date."

"I changed my mind!" 

"About what? About Michael?"

"No," Luke sighs, "about myself."

"What do you mean?" 

Luke really, really doesn't think it's a possibility that Michael likes him as a friend, let alone a romantic interest. "I don't know, I just don't think anything is a good idea right now."

"Anything at all?" Ashton asks with a childish glint in his eyes.

"Anything at all."

"Not even ice cream?" 

Luke lifts his face off his hands again. "Your treat?"

"'Course," Ashton shrugs easily. 

"Yeah, maybe ice cream is a good idea," Luke nods. 

Ashton pushes himself up, dusts his jeans and offers a hand to Luke, pulling him up with no effort. "Okay then, see you tomorrow after school?" 

"Wait, what?" Luke splutters, "what about ice cream?" 

"You thought we were gonna go now?" Ashton laughs, "no, I have plans already, but tomorrow I'm free."

Luke gives Ashton a funny look, crossing his arms over his chest. "You're weird," he says.

"And you're not," Ashton shoots back. "See you tomorrow, Luke!" 

"Okay, bye?" Luke gives Ashton a faint wave and watches the boy turn around and walk off. Okay, that was not exactly what he'd expected, but he guesses ice cream tomorrow is better than no ice cream.

+

After bidding Luke goodbye, Ashton goes straight to Calum’s.

"Dude, you wouldn't believe how I fucked up today," Ashton responds to Calum's 'hi' as he walks in the house, toes off his shoes and goes straight into the kitchen. 

"Oh, my God," Calum sighs, "what did you do?"

"I asked Michael how did it go with Luke," Ashton replies, already in the middle of fixing himself a sandwich."You want one?"

Calum shakes his head. "And what did he say?"

"He asked me how high was I," Ashton laughs, then starts again in all seriousness, "I told him Luke was supposed to ask him out, and turns out he didn't."

"This is," Calum rubs a hand down his face, "very bad."

"Yeah, I know, and I need to fix it."

"How?" Calum asks and starts walking towards his room with Ashton following behind him.

"You'll see," Ashton bites into his sandwich, "but I'm gonna need you to give me Michael's number," he says casually, and bumps into Calum, who's stopped walking for some reason. 

"Why?" Calum turns around and looks at Ashton with scrunched up eyebrows.

"I'm gonna ask him if he wants to go on a date with Luke. Duh."

"What?" Calum hisses. "You can't just ask him out instead of Luke! He should do it himself." 

"I just want him to stop being so miserable, is all," Ashton shrugs. 

"No, absolutely not. And you should let them work this out between themselves, Ash," Calum says as he shuts the door behind Ashton. "You'll fuck everything up, please stay out of it."

Ashton grimaces at Calum's back and continues eating his sandwich in silence. Fine, he'll find another way to play Cupid. 

+

Ashton steals Luke's phone for a few minutes and texts Michael to come to the ice cream place after school. He then deletes the conversation and slips the phone back into the pocket of Luke's jacket. Luke and Calum don't seem to have noticed, so Ashton tunes back into their conversation like nothing ever happened with his lips stretched in a poorly hidden smirk. 

Luke doesn't mention their deal to go get ice cream in front of Calum, much to Ashton's relief, too, so everything is going to plan so far.

+

Luke chooses some shitty flavor that Ashton makes fun of, and Ashton weasels out of buying anything by saying he's feeling a bit itchy in the throat. He also coughs a few times for good measure, and it seems to do the trick. They take a seat that's visible from the entryway, a suggestion from Ashton, and Luke digs into his ice cream. 

"This is good," he says after his first spoonful.

"Yeah?" Ashton rests his elbows on the table, "I'll have to taste it, then, and maybe I’ll change my mind. But first I gotta go to the bathroom," he says, and leaves for the bathroom because it’s two to three and Michael should be here any minute.

+

Michael spots Luke right away. He's sitting alone with his back to Michael, and is fiddling on his phone. 

He only has a vague idea of what this is about and although he's planning on playing hard to get, the answer to the question he's expecting is a definite yes. That is, if Ashton wasn't playing a lame game on him the other day.

Michael slips into the seat opposite from Luke and leans against the table with his arms. "Hey."

"What took you so-" then Luke lifts his eyes from his phone and frowns. "What are you doing here?" 

"Uhh," Michael is taken aback, honestly. He shakes his head a bit and says, "you asked me to be here. Said you have something to say to me."

"I absolutely did not," Luke says firmly and stands up. Michael doesn't even try stopping him, because he sees he's left his backpack under the table, as he watches Luke stomp into the bathroom. 

+

Ashton in the middle of typing a text when the bathroom door swings open and Luke, distressed and panting slightly, walks in. 

"What are you doing here?" he asks. 

Ashton doesn't really have an answer, but Luke doesn't look like he cares. "Anyway," he says, "we have to get out of here, Michael turned up."

"Is that bad?" Ashton asks. He's trying to persuade Luke to stay and talk to Michael without doing any actual persuading. 

"Yes?" Luke arches an eyebrow, "Obviously? I'm currently trying to distance myself from him. C'mon let's go," he instructs and grabs Ashton by the hand. 

Ashton tries breaking away, but Luke's tight grip on him is having none of it. In the end, he gives in and walks out beside Luke with his head down. He can feel Michael's eyes on him as they approach the table to pick up their backpacks. 

"Hi, Mikey," Ashton says as he lifts his backpack from beside Michael and clears his throat awkwardly. 

"I didn't know you were here?" 

"Well, he was, okay?" Luke snaps, then adds with less anger, "we're gonna go, bye." Luke then walks out the ice cream shop at a fast pace, and Ashton sits in what used to be Luke's seat. 

"Look, Michael, you're probably very confused," he says, rushing the words out, "I can't really explain everything to yo-"

"I demand you explain, because I don't even know what to think of anything, and I don't get why you know more about what's going on between me and Luke than I do," Michael says calmly, but his eyes are glaring daggers at Ashton. "And what the fuck did you mean with your question the other day?" 

Ashton sighs and bites his lip. "Luke can explain everything to you, but you'll probably have to talk him into doing it."

Michael scoffs. 

"We both know you'll do it, so drop the act," Ashton replies, and rushes out the door after Luke. 

+

Michael turns up to Luke's house without any warning whatsoever, as always. He has two bouquets of carnations - one for Luke, and another for his mom. He knocks on the door, and after a few moments, not surprisingly, Luke's mom opens the door with a book in her hands.

"Hello, Michael," she says through a polite smile, purposefully looking anywhere but the flowers in Michael's hands.

"Hi, Mrs Hemmings, you gonna invite me in?"

His mom stutters something incomprehensible and steps away from the door. Michael enters the house, shutting the door behind him with a soft click.

"Luke's locked himself away in his room, if you're here for him," Luke's mom says.

"Why else would I be here?" Michael shrugs, taking off his coat and toeing off his shoes.

"Would you like a tea?" Luke's mom asks. It's probably just manners. Michael has a feeling she's not too fond of him.

"Yeah. I almost froze to death in this piece of sh- in this weather," Michael smiles and follows Luke's mom into the kitchen, where she puts the kettle on the stove.

"These are for you, actually," Michael holds up one bouquet, and Luke's mom looks at him suspiciously.

"What for?"

"Well, I didn't think it'd be fair to get Luke flowers don't get you any."

"Oh," his mom chuckles, "thank you."

When the flowers are put into a vase and two cups of tea are steaming on the kitchen table, Michael speaks again. "I want to ask your son out."

Luke's mom takes a sip of her tea, probably because she doesn't know what to say and not because she likes her tea scalding. Michael knows he's being extra about the whole situation and that makes him want to smile smugly.

"I see," Luke's mom finally speaks up. "I assume you didn't tell me that just to hear an entire speech about how under no circumstances you're allowed to mistreat him?"

"That's common sense," Michael says.

"Go ahead, then, but you'll have to really try to get him to unlock the door."

"I brought a screwdriver, so all's good," Michael says and stands up. Luke's mom gives him a disapproving look, to which Michael shrugs and says, "kidding." 

One slightly too hot tea and a trip upstairs, Michael finds himself in front of Luke's door with flowers in his hand and a racing heart in his chest. He pretends not to be nervous when he rises a fist to knock on the door.

"For the last time, I'm not hungry!" Comes Luke's voice from the other side of the door. 

"Whoa, she's just looking out for you," Michael says. He can hear the faint music stop, and the bed creak. 

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Luke hisses, much closer to the door, judging by the sound. 

"I was in the neighbourhood, so i figured I'd say hi. To you, not your door, that is."

"Tough shit, get out." 

Michael laughs. "Since when are you such an asshole?"

"I'm not in the mood for your stupid nonsense." 

"Oh, but I'm serious as fuck right now," Michael says. "And I came here to ask you on a date, which I can't do because you're being a child right now." 

Luke says nothing. This is extremely awkward, and if it turns out Michael misunderstood what Ashton said, it's gonna be even more awkward. 

After a few minutes of absolute silence (Michael leans against the wall opposite from the door, because he's grown tired of standing) the door unlocks with a soft click and Luke opens the door slowly. His hair is a total mess, and he's only wearing a pair of sweatpants and some ugly t-shirt with an obscure pattern on it. Michael follows Luke's eyes that travel him up and down, finally settling on the flowers in his hand. 

"Is this a joke?" Luke asks in a tiny voice. His eyes are hopeful, but his stance is self-protective.

"No." Michael stands straight and holds the flowers up. Luke takes them and bites his lip. Michael hopes that's his attempt at hiding a smile. 

"Oh, then," Luke takes a shuddering breath, "okay, I'll go out with you." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> michael is smooth af
> 
> ashton? not so much


	7. Chapter 7

It's too late for Luke to go out, according to his mom ("C'mon, Mrs Hemmings, I'll have him home by two!"), so Luke offers Michael to just hang out in his room until however much his mom lets him. Michael agrees.

"So, whatcha wanna do?" Luke asks, settling on his bed, patting it as a sign for Michael to sit beside him. He's got a goofy smile on his lips that he can't quite make go away.

"No idea. What am I supposed to want to do?"

"Uh," Luke shrugs, "couple-y stuff, I guess."

"Care to elaborate?" Michael finally sits beside Luke, and Luke scoots closer because he finally can.

"Well, y'know."

"I don't," Michael states. Luke laughs.

"For real? Last time I checked rumor had it you hooked up with half the school during various house parties."

Michael physically cringes and shakes his head. "It was only a couple times, and fucking isn't equal to dating," he says the last part so quietly Luke almost doesn't catch it.

"No way," Luke says, astonished, "so you're saying you've never had a-"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, stop laughing and consider yourself very lucky."

"I'd consider myself that either way." Luke takes Michael's hand carefully. When the other boy doesn't pull away, Luke gets a little more brave and starts rubbing little circles on the back of Michael's hand. "I guess I always took you for a heartthrob or something."

Michael looks at Luke as if he's having trouble believing that, and then smirks. "Of course. I just never really got involved."

"I'm gonna make fun of you for being a relationship virgin tomorrow at school," Luke giggles. He can feel Michael's hand tensing up, and when he looks down he sees he's flipped the finger.

"I'm gonna make fun of you for being a virginity virgin, then."

"Hey! How do you know that?"

"You just admitted it," Michael laughs.

Luke tries acting offended, but cracks a smile of his own in the end. Their eyes meet, and Luke feels Michael turn his body so it faces Luke fully. Never breaking eye contact Luke mirrors the action and pushes himself even closer to Michael.

"Can I kiss you?" Michael whispers.

Luke only manages to nod and lick his lips before Michael closes the distance between them, and suddenly there's a pair of soft lips on Luke's own and two hands resting on his shoulders. Luke tries not to smile too much as he wraps his arms around Michael's waist. He's certain Michael can probably feel how fast his heart is beating, but that's explainable, because Michael does something with his tongue and Luke has to really try not to moan.

+

Turns out, Michael is much more affectionate than Luke thought. He's not very good with words, but he's always touching Luke - whether it's holding hands, touching thighs or anything else, really; Michael always finds a way. Luke thinks it’s flattering and cute, and  Calum and Ashton think it’s disgusting and are sick of their constant public displays of affection, although it's been barely a month since Luke and Michael started dating. 

Luke had hoped Michael would open up more now that their relationship is more intimate than before, but he still mumbles something vague every time he's asked anything personal, much to Luke's dismay. He's patient, though, and he doesn't pester Michael about such things too much.

Today Michael is even more insistent about skipping school, because apparently the weather is nice.

"You're out of your mind, Mikey," Luke sighs as he walks (drags) Michael to his next class. "It's cold as shit and it's not even snowing - it's raining massive chunks of half-melted snow."

"We don't have to be out-"

"It's gross. I'm not leaving the building, and neither are you."

Michael groans as he stops walking, so Luke is forced to stop as well, because he's clinging onto Michael's forearm.

"We can go to yours?"

Luke scrunches up his nose. "But we're always at mine."

"That's not true. We're always at Calum's."

"And sometimes at Ashton's, but never at yours."

Michael frowns. "Please don't start," he says and starts walking.

"But I want to meet your parents!" Luke whines as he catches up to Michael.

"Trust me, you don't, they're fucking horrible."

Luke wants to object, but the bell rings, and Luke has never hated the shrill sound as much, he swears.

"See you at lunch," Michael says, a triumphant smile on his lips. Even though Luke's annoyed with Michael, he still puckers up his lips and doesn't go to class until he gets a quick kiss.

+

"It's not that I don't respect your decision, but I wanna meet your mom and dad," Luke says after school. Michael and he are standing in the parking lot, not sure where they wanna go.

"They'll make you cry," Michael says in all seriousness.

"I'm sure they'll love me," Luke laughs.

"Such an optimist," Michael mutters, barely audibly. "It's not you, I promise. If I could, I'd introduce you to my entire extended family."

"Then what is it?" Luke snaps. It comes out way too harsh for Luke's liking, but he feels like shit knowing Michael has a reason against Luke meeting his parents, and it's been driving him insane for too long.

Michael cups Luke's hand between his palms and looks down at the ground as he says, "Luke, it's not because I'm ashamed of you or any other stupid reason. I just don't think that my parents should ever find out about you. I hope you understand."

"No, I don't." Luke yanks his hand free and distances himself from Michael by taking a step backwards. "I don't know what your deal is, and I'm sick of it. You allow yourself to skip class for a week straight and test your parents' patience in every other way imaginable, but you don't wanna bring your date home?" Luke asks angrily, then continues a little bit quieter, "It's not even about your parents anymore, it's about you and the problem you have with me," huke finishes and stops clenching his fists as hard when he notices the pain of his nails digging into his palms.

"Pull your head out of your ass, Luke," Michael replies just as angrily. "As shocking as it is, it's not about you this time, so stop playing the victim."

"You're an asshole, Michael," Luke says silently. He's practically shaking with anger and he doesn't trust his voice right now. He gives Michael his best shot at a glare, and turns on his heel, rushing off as far away from him as possible.

"Oh, so you're not gonna invite me to your pity party? It seems like you're the asshole here!"

Luke doesn't respond, he only starts walking faster as he pushes away the urge to throw an array of his most offensive insults at Michael.

+

The three of them – Luke, Ashton, and Calum – are over at Luke’s house, just about to watch movie. They’d been assigned to read Trainspotting for a class, but Ashton suggested they just watch the movie based off it the night before, because it’s easier and less time-consuming. They have a plate of Pop Tarts on the coffee table and the movie on Luke’s laptop.

“Play it already,” Ashton groans, but Luke shakes his head – Calum still hasn’t put his phone in the phone pile.

“I won’t until someone puts their goddamn phone away.”

Calum doesn’t even realize Luke and Ashton are glaring at him. “What?” he asks after a moment.

“We’re not starting the movie ‘til you commit to watching it without engaging in secondary activities,” Luke says pointedly.

“You could’ve said that in simpler words but okay,” Calum shrugs, and puts his phone next to the other two devices. Ashton then, given Luke’s permission, starts the movie and sits back on his spot on the couch.

The movie starts off with the traditional opening titles, and it seems like it’s innocent enough until the main character drops on the floor, high off some drug. Luke pays it no mind, until he notices Calum start squirming in his seat.

“Alright?” Ashton whispers, and Luke watches Calum nod with downcast eyes. When the people on the screen start doing heroin, Luke clears his throat awkwardly and pauses the movie. “Wanna, uh, wanna play FIFA instead? This movie’s boring.”

“Yeah, FIFA sounds amazing,” Ashton says with excitement in his voice that sounds a bit off to Luke. Luke knows Ashton hates FIFA.

“I’m fine, we can watch the movie,” Calum mutters in a strained voice. He’s picking on stray threads of his hoodie, and he refuses to look up.

Luke gives Calum’s knee a reassuring squeeze as he stands up to switch the movie to a video game.

+

"They're not talking to each other," Ashton explains silently to Calum, who watches Luke and Michael sitting at different tables at lunch. 

"Where do we sit?" Calum asks. 

Ashton has no idea, to be frank. He really doesn't want to take sides. He's just about to suggest they don't sit with Michael nor Luke, but the latter has different ideas. 

"Ashton, Calum!" he calls out, then glances at Michael quickly. Ashton supposes he was trying to be subtle about it, but a full upper body turn is the definition of 'obvious.' "Why don't you sit down?" Luke asks. 

Michael, also not so subtly, looks at Luke, then smiles at Ashton. "Yeah, sit down with me." 

"Guys," Ashton starts, but he doesn't have anything to say. He sighs, and looks at Calum for his final word.

"Split up?" he suggests. 

"Yeah, okay," Ashton says with a shrug and takes a seat next to Luke. Calum sits with Michael, and the situation is wrong and awkward.

"Are you two still at it?" 

"Are we two still at what?" Luke asks, fake obliviousness prominent in his tone. 

"Exactly," Ashton says, and stabs into one of his hash browns, "you don't even know what you're fighting about." 

"Of course I do," Luke scoffs, "I'm angry with Michael because he's an asshole."

"I'm an asshole, too, why aren't you angry with me?" 

"You're not that kind of an asshole," Luke explains, and takes a sip of his soda. "Michael's the biggest asshole I've ever known!" 

The way Luke practically screams the last words out makes Ashton want to slam his head onto the table. This is not why he got them together in the first place. He hears a scoff from the table behind him, and then Michael says, "clearly you don't know yourself that good, then."

Luke turns harshly to Michael. "It's grammatically incorrect to say 'that good' but you wouldn't know because you never fucking go to class," he hisses. 

Ashton sighs, also turning to face Calum and Michael's table. He shares an exasperated look with Calum, who's watching the two bicker pointlessly as well as Ashton. 

"And that is your business because?" Michael asks calmly. 

"Because I'm your boyfriend and I'm supposed to bring the best out of you," Luke answers. He looks way more irritated than Michael, but Ashton can tell Michael isn't enjoying the fight as much as he is pretending to. 

"Let me guess, as my boyfriend you're also supposed to know my parents on a first name basis?" 

"Yes!" Luke shouts. He doesn't notice the people around them giving him weird looks, but Ashton does and, apparently, Calum as well. He has his face buried in his hands, probably out of second-hand embarrassment.

"Well, you don't. Cry me a river." 

"I already did," Luke says, glaring daggers at Michael. "I was so busy doing so that I had almost no sleep last night."

Calum groans loudly and rubs his face. Ashton just looks away, as if he hadn't heard anything.

"Are you serious?" Michael asks, all the anger from his voice gone and replaced by concern.

"Does it look like I'm not?" 

A silence falls, and Ashton looks up. Michael and Luke are staring at each other, their faces unreadable. Then, Michael stands, grabs Luke by the wrist and drags him out the cafeteria. Luke puts up a fight at first, but then he follows Michael silently. 

+

"Where are you- let go! Let go of me right this second!" Luke shouts, his heels digging into the ground.

"Then I'm gonna kiss you right here right now, if you don't mind PDA," Michael says, and tugs on Luke's hand once more. Luke stands there with his mouth gaping open for a second, then he gives in, making it easier for Michael to drag him out the cafeteria. 

Michael probably is headed for the bathroom, but Luke sees a random classroom, and pushes down on the handle. It's unlocked, and it's vacant, so Luke pulls Michael after himself and shuts the door softly. "Will you kiss me now?" he asks promptly, and rests a hand on his hip.

Michael just stares into Luke's eyes, and Luke can't say it's not making him feel uncomfortable. "Well?" 

Michael smirks, "if you insist." 

Luke scoffs and opens his mouth to differ, but then Michael takes a step forward and takes Luke's face in his hands. "Was I mistaken?" he asks. Luke can feel his breath on his own lips, that's how close they are. 

"About what?" Luke whispers. He finds he can't look away from Michael's lips, no matter how hard he tries.

"About you insisting that I kiss you. Because I won't, if that's the case." 

"Oh," Luke breathes as he licks his lips. "I guess I was insisting, then."

"Good," Michael whispers, and finally lets their lips touch in a tender kiss. Luke doesn't want gentle and soft, he wants harsh and bruising. He bites Michael's lower lip, and when the other boy hisses in pain, he licks into his mouth eagerly. 

A shiver runs down Luke's spine when Michael squeezes his shoulders, and lets his hands run down Luke's arms. There's a little space between them, so Luke takes care of it by pulling Michael even closer. They kiss passionately, hands roaming each other's bodies, for a few more moments, but then Michael pulls back breathing heavily. He rests his forehead on Luke's shoulder, as they both take their time to catch their breaths. 

"You're an animal, Luke," Michael says, and lifts his head up. 

"Yeah, whatever, kiss me again," Luke mutters and closes his eyes. A pair of lips is almost instantly pressing against his own, and a pair of hands are gently holding him by the waist. This kiss is less frantic than the last one. Luke's chest is pressed against Michael's, and their lips move together in a slow but loving rhythm. 

They break the kiss because they're both smiling too hard to continue. 

"Are you still mad at me?" Michael asks as he takes a small step backwards. He doesn't let go of Luke's hands, so they're left there standing like they're in an awkward middle school dance. 

Luke shrugs. "I still can't help but feel there's something wrong with me," he says quietly as he stares at his shoes. 

"Luke," Michael sighs as he lifts Luke's chin up gently, "there's nothing wrong with you."

"Then what's the problem?"

Michael sighs again as he leads them to a table. They both sit on it, and Luke puts Michael's arms around his shoulders as he starts swinging his feet a bit. 

"My parents are Christian," Michael says, "and they think being anything that's not straight is a sin. I don't want you to be forced to listen to a lecture about how you're disrespecting Jesus or whatever." 

Luke doesn't say anything for a long time. He grew up in a very accepting environment, and he's never seen anyone but teenagers be assholes to people like himself. It's new to him, and he's too taken aback to put his thoughts into words. 

"Do they know about you?" He asks after a few minutes of silence.

Michael nods. "I managed to prove them it's having sex without the intention of reproducing that's a sin, and not being gay."

"Which means you're good as long as you don't have sex?" 

"Not really. I'm good as long as I at least act straight in front of them."

"That's shitty," Luke says, laying his head on Michael's shoulder. 

"Yeah, it's shitty not to be accepted by your own parents." 

Silence falls around them, and Luke closes his eyes while Michael rubs circles into his upper arm with his thumb. He tries to imagine himself in Michael's place, and he starts to understand why Michael won't let him into his house. 

"You can introduce me as your friend when you're ready," Luke says after a few moments. 

"Okay."

Luke lifts his head and presses a loving kiss onto Michael's neck.

+

Everything is back to the way it was between Luke and Michael, maybe even better. Luke doesn't bug Michael about certain things too much, and Michael tries his best to behave in front of Luke's mom, so it's a win-win situation. Luke ignores Michael during class and pays him extra attention in between periods, and Michael spends most of his time on Luke's bed with a controller in his hands, just like today. 

"You sure you don't wanna make out?" Michael asks Luke, who's sitting by his desk.

"Later," Luke mumbles, focused on his English literature homework in front of him. He's chewing on his pen, hands supporting his face by the cheeks. 

"You know what?" Michael asks, and shoots down a couple of random people in his game. Luke can hear their screams and violent police sirens coming through the speakers. Fucking Christ, he'd asked Michael to turn the volume down countless times already. "A tattoo would look so hot on you."

"Mikey, please," Luke sighs, then drops his head on the desk for a few seconds, but picks himself up almost instantly. He can't afford a quick nap on the desktop right now, he has a test to study for and an essay to write.

"A full-sleeve," Michael says, then giggles. "Or something on on your shoulder so I can bite into it when I come."

Luke slams his pencil on the table and turns in his chair harshly. "Michael! Stop distracting me!" His cheeks are burning red from frustration and embarrassment. 

"Was I distracting you? Sorry," Michael says with honesty in his voice, but the smirk on his lips is saying otherwise. "Speaking of, which part did you find most distracting?"

Luke groans and turns back to his homework, wishing Michael would only let him work for ten more minutes. 

"The part where I turned up the volume or the part where I said how much I'd love to bite in-"

"Michael, I swear to God," Luke practically growls, standing up with such force that his chair is sent back, scooting across the floor until it hits the wall. "I swear to fucking God," he continues as he pushes Michael into a laying position on his back, and straddles him. "If you keep your piece of shit attitude up, you'll be very sorry," Luke threatens and leans down so his face is inches away from Michael's. 

He can feel Michael squirm under his own body, and then he says, "oh yeah? How so?" 

"I'll be forced to kiss you just so you shut it, but we both know if I do, there's more chances than not that I won't do my homework again. And guess who'll have to hear me complain about it all day tomorrow." 

Michael worries his lip between his teeth for a few seconds before he chuckles. "That's a pretty good deal, to be honest," he says, and pulls Luke by the collar of his shirt down, so they can kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how the hell did i manage to write even more needless fighting smh
> 
> thanks so much for the feedback, it means a lot to me!!<3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw sex scene, so yea if youre unfomcortable with that im just saying. stay safe xx

The first time they do something more than heated make out sessions is in the summer, a little over a week before Luke's birthday. Luke's not stressed about school work anymore, as they both passed their exams. Yes, even Michael, who, influenced by Luke's constant nagging, started studying like crazy, and learnt four or five years worth of information in less than six months.

Their outlook on life is relaxed now, and they fall back into their routine of hanging out together most days, and hanging out with Calum and Ashton the others. The four of them have two months until Luke and Ashton go off to college, Michael takes up the offered job at some programming company, and Calum decides just to sit on his parents' money one more year.

"It's hot outside today, isn't it?" Luke asks Michael, breaking off their kiss. They're sitting in Luke's porch on a bench, Luke being in Michael's lap. The sky is full of stars, and warm wind is blowing lightly, making up for the chilly midnight weather.

"You went to the house to get yourself a sweater, so I guess not," Michael chuckles and tries catching Luke's lips in a kiss, but Luke hides his face in the crook of Michael's neck.

"Uh-huh," Luke hums and licks Michael's neck. Michael squirms under Luke and flicks him on the head. "Don't do that."

Luke licks the same spot once again and lifts his head. "I'm cold. Let's go inside."

_ Whether near or far, I am always yours; _

"You were just-" Michael starts, but Luke's already scrambled off of him and gone inside. 

"Lock the door," Luke instructs and runs upstairs hoping Michael follows him. Michael doesn't, and after a few minutes Luke comes downstairs, grabs Michael by the hand (he's in the kitchen staring at the contents of Luke's fridge) and goes upstairs again, heading straight into his room. 

"Where are you taking me?" Michael asks through a laugh. 

"I wanna show you something," says Luke, and closes his bedroom door after shoving Michael inside.

"Show me what?"

Luke doesn't respond, just pushes Michael gently so he's sitting on his bed and takes off his t-shirt.

"I've seen that already," Michael says.

"Not that, dipshit. I wanna show you a good time," Luke says, and climbs into Michael's lap. 

Michael starts laughing like mad, and Luke pokes him in the rib out of annoyance. "Literally nothing is funny right now, stop it." 

"I'm sorry," Michael says, and cracks up again. "It's just, I would've never guessed that Luke 'vanilla' Hemmings would want to show me a good time," he explains with a grin on his face.

"I've showed you a good time lots of times!"

"Can you stop saying 'a good time'?"

"I've jerked you off countless times, is that not a good time?" 

"A very good time indeed," Michael smirks, "but can you please refrain from your awkward dirty talk?" 

"It's not awkward, you're awkward," Luke mumbles, and launches himself at Michael, pushing him down on the bed and kissing him with eagerness. 

Michael breaks away after a moment, and whispers, "first of all, Luke," he shoves Luke off himself, and before Luke can ask what the fuck he's doing, he straddle's Luke's hips, "I can't let you be on top of me, that's not how it works." Michael leans down and kisses Luke briefly, "and second of all, you really wanna do this?"

"Shut the fuck _up,_ Michael, I really do," Luke assures and starts tugging at the hem of Michael's shirt. Thankfully, Michael takes the hint and takes it off. 

"You sure?" 

"Yes, I'm sure," Luke says impatiently, "stop wasting time and kiss me." 

Michael nods, and leans down again, kissing Luke slowly. Luke doesn't like it.

"I don't like it," Luke says, pulling away, "you're too passive." 

"Don't you wanna take it slow?" Michael raises an eyebrow. 

"We've been taking it slow for forever, step it up a little." 

Michael smirks. "Thank god. I'm rock hard right now," he says, and plunges at Luke once again, going for his neck this time. He sucks, bites and licks on it, and Luke's not sure he can take it. He's a writhing, jittery mess under the weight of Michael's body. 

"Don't hold back, Michael," Luke sighs, digging his nails into Michael's back. 

_ Any change in time, we are young [again]; _

Michael bites into Luke's collarbone, and Luke can't help the moan he lets out. The lower Michael trails his kisses, the more anxious Luke is for what is yet to come (pun intended), so he guides Michael in the right direction by giving his shoulders a downwards push, and Michael laughs breathily before running his hands down Luke's ribcage and stopping by his sweatpants. He sits on Luke's lower legs and hooks his thumbs under the band of his only two items of clothing. "This okay?" 

"God, _yes_ ," Luke hums, so Michael pulls them down, and Luke kicks them off completely. 

"What do you want me to do?" Michael asks, starting to stroke Luke lazily. Luke's not sure if Michael's being serious, or just a tease.

"Anything, as long as you start right now," Luke whispers. His eyes are clenched shut in anticipation. He doesn't feel anything for a few seconds, and when he opens his eyes and lifts his head from the mattress, he catches Michael just before he gives Luke a wink and goes down. Luke's eyes fall shut again, and he hisses at the warmth of Michael's mouth, bunching up his bed sheets in his fists. 

"Fuck," he sighs out as Michael picks up his pace.

It's Luke's first time being given head, and he realizes he wasted so much time doing other things and not _this_. He can see stars under his eyelids, and he can't stop the sounds coming from him. Without realizing, he bucks his hips up, and Michael takes it, earning yet another moan from Luke. 

Suddenly it becomes too much, and Luke whispers, "close," expecting Michael to pull away, but he doesn't. When Luke comes, his breath hitches, his fingers white from how tightly he fists them up. 

Michael sits up and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Enjoyed yourself?" 

Luke doesn't respond, just keeps breathing heavily as he nods a bit. After he catches his breath, he props himself up on his elbows and smiles. "I love you."

"Love you, too," Michael laughs, and leans in to peck Luke on the lips. 

"C'mon, now let's take care of you," Luke says, tugging Michael's jeans down. 

_ Lay us down, we're in love. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THAT WAS SHORT also my first time writing sex so excuse me
> 
> also i decided to do an epilogue because why not so yeah look out for that but i swear this is the last time im not posting the entire fucking thing and keeping you waiting


	9. Epilogue

"Luke? Is that you?" comes Michael's voice from the kitchen. 

"Who else," Luke says as he toes off his shoes and loosens his tie. He walks into the kitchen with a smile on his face and a rose in his hands. He got hired as a sound engineer at a recording studio he's been interning at for since the middle of his last year at college, which wasn't too long ago, so that's why he's happier than ever. The rose has nothing to do with Luke’s new job. In fact, he’s the one who should be getting roses from Michael, but the flower looked too nice in the shop so he got it.

"Put your shoes on the fucking shoe rack, I hate it when you leave it all over the hallway," Michael tells him off, his back to Luke as he stirs something in a frying pan.

"Oops, sorry," Luke says and goes back to put his shoes in their rightful place. Michael is kind of pissy when it comes to things being put back where they came from unless it's him that's causing all the mess. Luke doesn't point it out, though, because he feels like it's useless to banter over how the coffee mug is beside the sink instead of in it. When they moved in together, Michael promised he'd go easy on Luke, but the promise goes forgotten almost every time Luke's at fault. 

"Happy now?" Luke asks and leans against the doorway with a timid smile on his face. 

"Probably. Did you throw your coat on the couch?"

"Yeah, and I'm not moving it anywhere."

"Yeah, okay, fine. Supper's ready, anyway." Michael says, still busy with the stove. 

"Mikey?" 

"What." 

"Fancy turning around?" 

Michael scoffs, "I'm obviously doing something."

Luke lets out a breathy laugh and goes over to Michael. "I got you something," he whispers into Michael's ear, then wraps a hand around his waist, holding the rose up. 

"What's this?" Michael asks with amusement in his voice as he switches the stove off and turns himself to face Luke.

"A flower. For you," Luke smiles. 

"Did I forget an anniversary?" 

"No, you didn't," Luke laughs, "I just got hired full-time and I thought I'd get you a rose for the occasion."

This time, it's Michael's turn to laugh. "That's amazing, but shouldn't it be the other way 'round?" 

"No," Luke says, and kisses Michael softly on the lips. Michael melts in Luke's hands almost instantly as he tangles his fingers in Luke's hair, completely fucking up the hairstyle Luke spent ages on earlier in the morning. 

Not gonna lie, the lip ring Luke had gotten just recently feels weird when he kisses Michael, but Michael claims to find it hot, so he guesses it's okay. Luke deepens the kiss, but Michael pushes him away with a laugh.

"Supper is literally ready, go sit by the table. And thanks for the rose," he pecks Luke on the cheek, taking the flower. 

With the flower put in a vase (a mason jar, to be exact) and displayed on the little dining table, Michael and Luke sit down for supper. It's a simple meal consisting of pan-fried potatoes and some sauce Michael got from the store, but they're both shit at cooking and Luke couldn't expect more. 

"So, they took you full-time?" Michael asks. 

"Yeah. They liked the ideas I had when we were recording some local band and I guess I got lucky."

"No, they got lucky," Michael says and stands up. "You want a beer?" 

"Mikey," Luke sighs, "if you wanna drink, can we at least open the expensive wine? Today is a special occasion." 

"I thought you were saving it for something big."

"I mean, I got a job and we're eating something that's not defrosted - today is something big."

"You're right," Michael laughs, "where do you hide our booze, again?"

+

About four years ago, Ashton suggested Calum should pick up soccer again, and now he's playing for his state's team. It's tiring and highly rewarding at the same time, according to Calum himself, although Luke doesn't get to see him as much anymore. He's either in practice or passed out on his  couch. Today is one of the days where Calum is hanging out at their's, along with Ashton and Ashton's kid. Michael had been against any toddlers in his ("their," Luke had corrected) apartment, but apparently Ashton's wife is out of town and the kid has nowhere to go. 

"I mean this in the most kid-positive way possible, but can it stop drawing all over the walls?" Michael asks Ashton, pointing at the little boy sitting by the wall with a crayon in his little grip, squiggling away. 

"Did you say 'it'? Andy is a he," Ashton gives Michael a glare, "and it comes off with a pencil eraser, let him draw." 

"Crayons is a gateway office supply. Soon it'll be sharpies, highlighters and all sorts of other permanent shit that's on your wall," Michael grumbles, falling into a seat on the couch next to Luke. Luke almost reflexively leans into Michael's side, and only stops pressing in when he feels an arm draping around his shoulders. 

Calum laughs, and Ashton throws one of Andy's stuffed toys at his head. "We don't let him draw on walls at home, obviously."

Calum and Luke both crack up this time, and Michael just splutters in absolute disbelief. "Then why is he doing that?" He asks as he waves a frantic hand towards Ashton's son. 

"Because you were an asshole to me in high school and payback's a bitch," Ashton says nonchalantly, and laughs, Luke and Calum joining him shortly.

"Yeah, you used to be a massive ass," Calum says. "From what I heard, at least. Never had much pleasure having you be an asshole to me before Luke came." 

"Dunno, you seemed like a cool guy," Michael shrugs.

"Did I seem like a cool guy?" Luke asks, and pretends not to notice the look Ashton and Calum share. 

"Absolutely not," Michael laughs, "I used to hate you." 

"Five bucks Luke will start crying," Ashton says, and Calum stands up to shake his hand. 

"Fuck off, I won't cry," Luke mutters, then turns to Michael again. "I can't believe you used to hate me."

“Watch your language,” Ashton says, which goes unnoticed by everyone in the room.

"Don't lie, you knew it from the start," Calum interjects. Ashton and Michael both nod in agreement and Andy decides it's the perfect time to let out a joyous screech and start rubbing the crayon against the white wall with as much force as a two-year-old can manage. Luke doesn't mind it, but the way Michael grips on his shoulder is a clear giveaway that he does. 

"To be honest you hated him, too," Ashton says. While it's true, Luke just refuses to accept that he was once stupid enough to hate Michael.

"It was more like short-term slight dislike," Luke defends. 

"It was pure hatred, buddy," Calum says with a laugh.

"He hated me first!" 

"Oh, shut up," Michael says, "it's nothing personal, I used to hate everyone at that time." 

"But you love me now, right?" Luke looks up to Michael and smiles. 

"Yeah, I love you now," Michael agrees, and kisses Luke on the lips briefly. 

"I love you, too, now," Luke whispers while Ashton laughs at Calum's imitation of throwing up. 

"Speaking of romantic mushiness, when was the last time somebody checked Andy's diaper?" Calum quips, and Luke can't help but chuckle. 

"Who made it should change it," Michael says and looks at Ashton pointedly. 

"I can bet you all my property he's good, but you're free to check yourself," Ashton tells Calum, who politely declines. The four of them fall into light conversation about what has everybody been up to - they don't have lots of time to catch up these days. Luke's glad they still find time for just the four of them (plus Andy) despite their clashing schedules. He kisses Michael's shoulder, bared of a muscle tee strap he's wearing, and smiles. "I like this," he says quietly, "I like you." 

"Would be awkward if you didn't, with us being in a long term relationship and all," Michael chuckles.

That's not exactly what Luke meant, but he knows Michael gets him, even though he likes joking about it. His friends' chatter blurs into white noise and Luke snuggles into Michael's side even more with a content smile on his face. He's really glad about the decisions he made that lead him up to where he is right now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :// im kind of sad that this is over
> 
> and yea andy was totally named after andy hurley js
> 
> thank you for every single one kudos and comment, they mean the world to me!! i really hope you enjoyed reading this story, because i really enjoyed writing it and its special to me. not because i think its amazingly fantastic, its just this story used to be my only friend at times, so thats why it has a special place in my heart. anyway, thanks very much for reading xx
> 
>  
> 
> 2016 may 02: the epilogue has been missing for a few weeks because i deleted it, but now i fixed it so its back up


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was going thru my docs on my computer and i found this
> 
> i cant really remember why i didnt include this in the fic but now that i read it, i think its kinda cute
> 
> so yeah, consider this a deleted scene of sorts, which, i believe, was supposed to go somewhere in the second chapter

“I don’t want to fuck this up, Calum. Don’t fuck this up.”

“If you’d just let me- fuck’s sake, Luke!”

With a sigh, Calum drops his hands by his sides, and Luke ruffles his hair in hopes that the hairspray won’t stiff up his hair that way. It’s half past six in the morning, and Calum is currently watching Luke (attempt to) do his hair. He'd stayed the night at Luke which means neither got as much sleep as they would've liked. 

“You just made it worse,” Calum then states and takes a gulp of his coffee, setting the mug on the bathroom counter with a loud thud. Luke’s surprised the mug didn’t crack.

“Well, you were supposed to bring your blow-dryer,” Luke retorts and frowns at the reflection of himself in the mirror.

“I forgot, sue me.”

“The whole point of you being here was the blow-dryer, oh my God.”

That’s because Luke dropped his into a sink full of water and didn't think it was safe to plug it into a socket. He’d figured it’d be a good idea to invite Calum and Calum’s blow-dryer to spend the night.

Nothing is as easy as it should be for Luke these days.

“I can’t let Michael see this,” Luke says and tugs at a tuft on his hair. After being let go of, the hair falls back in place on Luke’s forehead. The hair-do looks nothing like Luke’s usual quiff, and Luke swears the end of the world is here.

“It looks fine, seriously,” Calum offers. Luke just glares at him and says nothing.

He looks like a tired slob without his hair done, Luke knows that and he doesn’t need Calum, the asshole who managed to forget the only thing he was supposed to bring, to try and convince him otherwise.

Luke covers his mouth as he lets out a yawn, and tries making his hair stand up once more with the other.

“It’d be fine if you hadn't straightened it,” Calum then says, slurps at his coffee and slams the mug on the counter once again.

“The damage’s done now, so you might as well shut up.”

“Hey, I'm just trying to help,” Calum defends.

Luke sighs and turns to Calum at last. It’s a bit awkward being this close to him, with limited bathroom space and all. “I’m sorry,” he sighs, “I just don’t want to look shit today. Michael and I are studying after school.”

“I’m know, you wouldn’t shut up about it yesterday.”

Luke blushes.

“Anyway, why don’t you put on a hat and be done with it?”

“Calum, you’re a genius.”

+

“Hemmings, are you aware of this school’s dress code?”

“Uh,” Luke shrugs his shoulders, “I thought it didn’t have one?”

“No headwear indoors,” Mr Iero pulls Luke’s beanie off his head and drops it on Luke’s table. Luke’s hair, before all neatly hidden by the beanie, falls loose over his eyes. Michael snickers as soon as Mr Iero turns his back at them, and Luke lays his head on the table with a deep sigh.

“Slept in this morning?” Michael asks and ruffles Luke’s hair.

“Shut up.”


End file.
